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At this time the economic importance of
Bruges was declining, but it still
maintained its prestige as a center of art
and David played an important role in the
flourishing export trade in paintings that
it developed in the first quarter of the
16th century.
is work -- extremely accomplished, but
conservative and usually rather bland -- was
very popular and his stately compositions
were copied again and again. Among his
followers were Ysenbrandt and Benson, who
carried on his tradition until the middle of
the 16th century. Most of his work was of
traditional religious themes, but his
best-known paintings are probably the pair
representing The Judgement of Cabyses (Groeningemuseum,
Bruges, 1498), a gory subject to which his
reflective style was not ideally suited. |
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