Baroque in Flanders and England

Baroque in Flanders and England
(17th c.)

Towards the end of the 16th c. the Protestant regions broke off from what had been the old, undivided Netherlands, but Flanders in the south remained Catholic and under Spanish rule. The leading role in art was taken there by Rubens, the great figure of Flemish Baroque art. Rubens fused the tradition of old Flemish art with his experience of Classicism that he brought from Bologna and with Caravaggism. He had a great influence not only in Flanders but all over Europe.