Scorel, Jan van

Scorel, Jan van yän vän skōˈrəl [key], 1495–1562, Dutch portrait and religious painter, influenced by Gossaert in Utrecht and by Dürer in Nuremberg. About 1521 he visited Palestine and later Rome, where he acted as overseer of the Vatican gallery. On his return to Utrecht, he became a priest and later a canon. Many of his major religious paintings have perished. Well known are his Virgin and Child (Berlin), portraits of pilgrims from the Holy Land (museums in Utrecht and Haarlem), and Magdalen (Rijksmus.). Scorel was the master of Antonio Moro and of Heemskerk. His style is characterized by a combination of northern interest in realistic observation and effects of light and shadow with the feeling for statuesque dignity imparted by the Italian High Renaissance.

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