Karel van Mander (Meulebeke, Flanders 1548 – Amsterdam, 1606) was one of the most important painters and theoreticians who introduced Romanism and Mannerism to the Low Countries.
Around 1573 Van Mander left for Italy. He worked in Florence with Vasari on the dome fresco of the Duomo and in Terni he painted in the Palazzo Spada. He then settled in Rome for more than three years. There he befriended Bartholomeus Spranger and was influenced by him. In 1577 he accepted the retreat. He carried out another assignment in the cemetery of Krems an der Donau and with his compatriot Hans Mont he made triumphal arches for the entry of Emperor Rudolf II into Vienna.
The reformist Van Mander settled in Haarlem in 1583. He would live and work there for twenty years. He had an ‘academy’ there with Cornelis van Haarlem and Hendrick Goltzius, presumably a small study club where naked models were drawn, which was actually forbidden at the time. Van Mander had brought this practice from Italy and introduced it to the Netherlands for the first time, although female nude models remained taboo in both countries. The education of the academy was aimed at fellow art lovers who wanted to practice after the male model outside the guild. They also exchanged their views on art, mainly on Mannerism.
