ABSTRACT
In the catalogue of the major exhibition Byzantium: Faith and Power, Maryan Ainsworth produced a ground-breaking exploration into Byzantine icons in northern Europe, touching also briefly on Spain.1 Her principal focus was on the ways in which Netherlandish painters adapted iconographic models derived, however indirectly, from icons. The aim of this chapter is to explore further some of the issues arising from Ainsworth’s work relating to the value placed on icons in northern Europe and Spain. Firstly, how crucial in the acquisition, veneration and copying of icons was their reputation as paintings derived from prototypes by the evangelist Saint Luke? Secondly, is there firm evidence to connect icons with aspirations to launch a crusade against the Ottomans? Or are there other reasons why icons might be appreciated: as souvenirs of pilgrimage, or even for their distinctive artistic approach, so different from conventions of fifteenth-century painting in northern Europe and Spain? These questions will be addressed here in relation to three very different territories: the Prague of Charles IV (r. 1346-78), the fifteenth-century Burgundian Netherlands and, briefly, the Spain of Isabella of Castile (r. 1474-1504).
