Collaboration and Competition: Master Masons and Painters in the Production of Architectural Designs in the Low Countries in the 16th Century

Abstract

With its traditional focus on authorship, art history has long disregarded the complexity of architectural design processes. In the Low Countries, during the late Middle Ages and early modern period, the specialisation of a first generation of architects paradoxically went hand in hand with extensive teamwork in the production of architectural drawings. The design of buildings was surprisingly often a collaborative practice, not only involving the ‘architect’ but also experts from different backgrounds as well as the patron. In this period, a master of the works usually had the prime responsibility for the design, though others could have great influence on the final appearance of the building as well. This article focuses on architectural drawings, arguing that in the 16th century their production was not a solitary activity, but regularly involved multiple hands. This heterogeneity in architectural practice stimulated a search for new graphic methods and benefited from crossovers with the pictorial arts.