Dictionary
Flemish Mannerism

Flemish mannerism refers to a movement within North European mannerism. The painter and engraver Frans Floris (c. 1517-70) was the leading representative of Flemish mannerism. Born in Antwerp, he trained under Lambert Lombard in Lüttich, before continuing his studies in Italy, as was typical for painters during the 16th and 17th centuries. After returning to Antwerp, he founded a successful workshop in the 1550s, where artists such as Philip Galle, Cornelis Bos and Cornelis Cort, reproduced his work in etching form. Frans Floris’ work possessed the typical stylistic characteristics of Southern European mannerist art; extended, slim figures and limbs, proportionally small heads, and the use of strong chiaroscuro. Other important representatives of Flemish mannerism included Jan Mandyn, Marten de Vos and Otto van Veen. Frans Floris' older brother, the sculptor, decorator, and architect Cornelis Floris (1514-75), had a decided impact on architecture. He developed a new, rich system of decoration from a series of ornamental forms such as cartilage, gargoyles, tendrils, volute, scrollwork and ears, decorating buildings with them in an imaginative way. This "Floris" style spread rapidly throughout Northern Europe in the etchings of Hans Vredemann de Vries. The key work executed in the Floris style, was the Antwerp town hall, built between 1561 and 1565.