Netherlandish artists and the marketing of ‘Flemishness’ in Madrid

Samenvatting

Examining North and South Netherlandish immigrant artists’ careers in seventeenth- century Madrid, this article asks, first, did these immigrants as well as Spaniards differentiate between ‘North’ and ‘South Netherlandish’ identity? Second, did the king’s Burgundian guard facilitate the creation of a shared ‘Netherlandish’ identity? Third, do these immigrants’ works reveal their marketing strategies? After considering semantic and historical clues to the construction of a ‘Netherlandish’ identity, this paper investigates how ‘Netherlandish’ immigrant painters and their children used floral and fruit imagery to market their work.