Flemish Art in Spain

Cultural Crossroads: Artistic Encounters between the Low Countries and Spain, 15th–17th Centuries

Co-organised by the Instituto Moll (Madrid) and the Fondation Périer-D’Ieteren (Brussels).
Principal Investigators: Dr. Sacha Zdanov (Fondation Périer-D’Ieteren / Université Libre de Bruxelles) & Dr. Ana Diéguez-Rodríguez (Instituto Moll / Universidad de Burgos)

The circulation of artworks from the Southern Netherlands to the Iberian Peninsula is a well-established research topic. The close economic and political connections between the two regions — based notably on the trade in Castilian wool for the looms of Flanders and Brabant — fostered a dynamic exchange network that facilitated the dissemination of paintings, tapestries, sculptures and stained-glass windows across Spain. The strong diplomatic and dynastic alliances between the Burgundian and Habsburg courts and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain encouraged the emergence of major patrons such as Isabella I of Castile and Diego de Guevara. Many of these Netherlandish works have remained in Spanish public and private collections to this day.

Since 2020, the Instituto Moll and the Fondation Périer-D’Ieteren have been conducting a joint research programme devoted to identifying and studying works of art produced in the Southern Netherlands between the 15th and 17th centuries that are still preserved in Spain. Initially focused on painting, the project has progressively expanded to include other art forms such as sculpture, altarpieces, tapestries, and stained-glass windows, highlighting the full range of artistic exchanges between the two regions.

The project builds on the pioneering initiatives of the Centre for Flemish Primitives, whose 1953 repertory of Spanish collections under Jacques Lavalleye sought “to make known unpublished or less studied paintings fragmentarily explored by scholars.” Although only two volumes were published, subsequent research — notably by Elisa Bermejo, Matías Díaz Padrón, Didier Martens, Pilar Silva Maroto, and more recently Constanza Negrín Delgado and Ana Diéguez-Rodríguez — as well as the Las Edades del Hombre exhibitions and scientific catalogues of Spanish museums, have significantly enriched our knowledge of Netherlandish artworks in Spain. Today, Cultural Crossroads continues this effort through a systematic survey and open-access database, aiming to broaden research perspectives and raise awareness of these works’ artistic and heritage value.

The project also explores the notion of artistic hybridity — how Netherlandish forms, materials, and iconographies were adapted to Iberian contexts, and how local tastes, patronage, and devotional practices shaped their reception. By analysing these transfers across media, the initiative seeks to rethink the place of the Southern Netherlands within a wider European network of artistic production and exchange.

Flemish Art in Spain project illustration

Database

Flemish Art in Spain Database. The database provides access to artworks from over 130 locations across Spain — including paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and stained-glass windows — and offers detailed records on provenance, iconography, materials and conservation.

Publications

    1. Sacha Zdanov & Ana Diéguez-Rodríguez (eds), Cultural Crossroads: Netherlandish Painting and the Iberian Territories, 15th–17th Centuries, Cahiers d’études des Annales d’Histoire de l’Art et d’Archéologie, Brussels, Éditechnart, 2025.

Study Days

The Instituto Moll and the Fondation Périer-D’Ieteren are organising a series of international study days exploring different facets of these artistic exchanges:

  1. Flemish Paintings in Spain, 24 November 2023, Brussels.
  2. Woven Pictures, 8 November 2024, Madrid.
  3. Echoes of Flemish Sculpture in Spain from Gothic to Baroque, 28 November 2025, Brussels.