Karel van Mander

Karel van Mander
Portrait of Karel van Mander from his book
Born	May 1548 Meulebeke
Died	2 September 1606 Amsterdam
Education	Lucas de Heere and Pieter Vlerick
Known for	Painting, poetry, writing
Notable work	Schilder-boeck, several paintings
Movement	Mannerism
Patron(s)	Haarlem city council

Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (alternative name spellings: Carel van Mandere, Karel Van Mander and Carel Van Mander) (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembered as a biographer of Early Netherlandish painters and Northern Renaissance artists in his Schilder-boeck. As an artist and art theoretician he played a significant role in the spread and development of Northern Mannerism in the Dutch Republic.

Most of the information about Karel van Mander's life is based on a brief and anonymous biographical sketch included in the posthumous second edition of the Schilder-boeck published in 1618 by Jacob Pietersz Wachter. It is not certain who wrote this biographical sketch and various candidates have been proposed. Most recently it has been argued that it was written by his son Karel van Mander the Younger. His son would have relied on biographical information that Karel van Mander had written himself as well as on his own recollections and notes. The information in the biographical sketch is not entirely reliable but is still regarded as the best source of information on van Mander's life.

Van Mander was born into a noble family in Meulebeke, in the County of Flanders. He studied under Lucas de Heere in Ghent, and in 1568-1569 under Pieter Vlerick in Kortrijk. The next five years he devoted to the writing of religious plays for which he also painted the scenery. Then followed three years in Rome (1574–1577). His biographical sketch refers to van Mander as the discoverer of 'caves' in Rome. This may be a reference to the Catacombs of Rome although the exact meaning of the reference is unclear. In Rome he may also have come into contact with fellow Fleming Bartholomeus Spranger, who left Rome in 1575 for Vienna to enter into the service of the emperor. His patrons in Rome included several cardinals. On his return journey he passed through Vienna, where, together with Spranger and the sculptor Hans Mont, he made the triumphal arch for the royal entry of the emperor Rudolf II.