SPANISH PAINTING
The earliest Spanish paintings in the National Gallery of art reflect the change of the age of Ferdinand and Isabella (c. 1474-1516). At that time, Spanish nobles and prominent clergy imported both paintings and painters from Flanders which was a very prosperous section of north Europe. It compressed the countries now called Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg; also, it included a number of important centers in northeastern France. During the 15th century this area produced magnificent painting, noted for its astonishingly detailed realism.
Queen Isabella must have become especially fond of the jewellike Flemish pictures for she employed two artists from Flanders as her court painters Miguel Sithium and Juan de Flanders. (…)