The Life of Lambert Lombard (1565) by Dominicus Lampsonius (1532–99) was virtually the first art theoretical text in the Netherlands, although the eponymous artist is not widely known nowadays. Lampsonius was a versatile humanist and worked for Cardinal Pole and the prince-bishop of Liège. He corresponded with Vasari and sent a copy of The Life to the Italian author, expecting that the information he provided concerning Netherlandish artists would be included in the second edition of the Vite (1568). It seems that Vasari and the Tuscan canon of art served to motivate his writing, which prepares “the beginnings of a self-consciously Netherlandish history of art” (1). Edward Wouk translated this important Latin text with Helen Dalton and Julene Abad Del Vecchio, providing a very informative and readable introduction and notes, and a clearer view of the purpose and nature of Lampsonius's writing, artistic context of the time, and Lombard's view on art of his time and of antiquity. Colette Nativel recently published a new French translation of the same text (2018), which indicates the increasing interest in the field. The volume under review also offers the annotated translation of The Effigies (1572), a print series of the portraits of twenty-three Northern artists, from the Van Eyck brothers to Frans Floris (and the deceased publisher Hieronymus Cock), with eulogies written by Lampsonius.

As both Wouk and Nativel argue, The Life is of a rather abstract nature and the specific details of Lombard's works are scarce. It is the life of a model artist imbued with Lampsonius's art theory and his interest in the Netherlandish canon formation. The same agenda is also discerned in The Effigies as well. Wouk's volume makes us recognize many significant and intriguing aspects of Lampsonius's writings, only a few of which are presented below.

First, the text paved the way for the Netherlandish version of pictor doctus. Lampsonius presents Lombard as an avid reader of classical texts (as well as using the modern translations), including the materials related to ethics, and as a researcher of the antiquities via his numismatic knowledge (mentioned also by Hubert Goltzius, the established numismatics himself, in the preface of The Life) and his study of works of the old Franks, such as the twelfth-century frescoes in Schwarzheindorf. According to Lombard, these works inherited and revealed some aspects of the ancients. Lombard's direct and original dialogue with antiquity is emphasized, and in this way, he acquired the grammar of his art. It is also related to the high esteem he held for Mantegna.

Second, the interpretative potential of the term graphice in Lampsonius's text invites further thought. The term meant “the arts of painting, drawing, and more generally picturing, as well as writing or incising” (25), and Wouk indicates that one of the sources may have been De Sculptura (Antwerp, 1528) by Pomponius Gauricus. As the term disegno itself, or a translation of it, is absent from Lampsonius's texts, it seems plausible that Lampsonius applied the term as an alternative to the concept of disegno, while expanding its meaning as including both writing and engraving. It is tempting to compare its usage closely with that of teyckenkonst by Van Mander, as argued by Walter Melion (Shaping the Netherlandish Canon, 1993).

There are many other elements which can be interpreted in the Netherlandish canon formation, such as the evaluation of the landscape paintings. For example, in view of the Italian hierarchy of the genres, it is intriguing to know that Lampsonius applied the word doctus for the landscape painter Herri met de Bles in The Effigies, which corresponds well with his view stated in the letter to Vasari, that things like landscapes, trees, waters, etc. require a more practiced and surer hand than do nudes.

Although the space is limited to show the book's potential fully, it is definitely worth close reading and catalyzes the drive to further research into the antiquarian, humanistic, and intellectual aspects of Netherlandish art.