Book Launch: Matt Kavaler “Actors Carved and Cast – Netherlandish Sculpture of the Sixteenth Century”

Thursday January 16th, 2025, 4:00pm-5:30pm
Victoria University Common Room. 91 Charles St W

The CRRS is excited to announce the launch of Dr. Matt Kavaler’s latest book Actors Carved & Cast – Netherlandish Sculpture of the Sixteenth Century. To celebrate Dr. Kavaler’s publication, we will be hosting a book launch party on Thursday January 16th at 4:00pm in the Victoria University Common Room. Books will be on sale at a discount at the launch party!

About the Book:

Painting has long dominated discussions of Netherlandish art. Yet in the sixteenth century sculpture was held in considerably higher regard than painting, especially in foreign lands. This beautifully illustrated book is the first comprehensive study of sixteenth-century Netherlandish sculpture, and it opens an important window onto the works and milieu of these artists.

Netherlanders dominated the sculptural world of northern Europe. They made the most prestigious tombs and altarpieces, alabaster reliefs, and boxwood collectibles for patrons throughout Iberia, France, and Central Europe. Even in Italy they were a formidable presence; the most famous sculptor in Europe in the second half of the sixteenth century was Giambologna, a Fleming who spent the greater part of his career in Florence. A great many of these artists immigrated to foreign courts—so many that the history of Netherlandish sculpture in the second half of the sixteenth century plays out largely abroad. Netherlandish carvers and casters relocated to what are today Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine. Sculpture, more so than painting, was an essential tool in discourses of power.

Offering an essential new perspective on a fascinating period in art history, Actors Carved and Cast will appeal to scholars of sculpture and all those interested in Northern Renaissance art.