Finally, the causes of stylistic or iconographic transfers are not limited to the artistic domain. Sometimes they can carry a political message. Stefan Roller, the conservator of the Middle Ages department at the Liebighaus museum in Frankfurt am Main, puts forward the example of Niclas Gerhaert van Leyden, a sculptor active in the second half of the 15^th century, and a native of the Low Countries. He did work for the German Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg, and what he produced was of exceptional quality, not only in respect of style but also of technique. But this artistic success does not explain why after his death, so many who commissioned art works let it be known that they were looking for artists who could work “in the style of Niclas”. The reason was that in certain strata of society, the style of Niclas was associated with Frederick, and owning a piece of it was equivalent to support for the Emperor. These connections between artistic transfer and political life, made with the help of art works, also involve the domain of iconography, as witness a study by Ivan Gerat, the director of the Institute of art history of Bratislava. Great compares two groups of paintings of Elizabeth of Thuringia (one originating in Lübeck, Germany, and one from Košice, Slovakia), and finds that their differences correspond to local factors, connected, again, to the patrons’ desire for the works they commissioned to be politically correct.

Technical and technological transfers

The movements of artists and works also allowed the diffusion of techniques, which thus escaped the confines of their natal environment. Maria-Anne Privat-Savigny, the director of the Gadagne museums of Lyon, takes up the case of the opus anglicanum. This Latin tag refers to an English embroidery technique which was famous during the Gothic period. Very valuable art works require rich materials and great technical skill, and these constitute prestigious diplomatic gifts. The very nature of the opus anglicanum explains its diffusion in Europe, something that was favourable for borrowing, especially in the technical realm. The author sums up these movements: “professionals, works, patrons, collections and models circulated intensely in the Europe of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and thus constituted so many opportunities for imitation, learning, adaptation, interpretation [ …]”.

This technological dimension allows us to re-evaluate certain theories based on stylistic or iconographic criteria. Among the themes to be considered in a new light, the book gives most attention to the encounter between Flemish art (and oil painting) and the Italian production of the Quattrocento. Giorgio Vasari, precursor of art history, was already evoking this in the 16^th century in his famous Lives. But like many of his successors, he assumed that Italian painters were superior to the Northern masters. A contrario, some researchers have been content to reduce Italian oil painting to simple copies, more or less successful, of Flemish masterpieces. These two points of view do not take into account the varying appropriation artists make of a single technique. As Dominique Allart, professor and director of the department “Transitions” at the University of Liège, puts the matter: oil painting came to Italy, and amounted to a number of new possibilities. As for Claire Challéat (connected to the Ecole française of Rome), she concentrated on a particular case: the production of the painter Colantonio, who worked in Naples in the mid-15^th century. Her study shows that several artists of the same period borrowed stylistic or iconographic elements from Flemish artists, but still celebrated Colantonio’s innovative technique in their writings about art. Their interest focuses on “the political and symbolic meaning of the Flemish model, as the visible manifestation of a status”. Far from a servile copy, the art of the Quattrocento thus causes some transfers, while retaining its own will and motivation.