This important book reexamines the pivotal position of the great Bruges painter Gerard David (ca. 1455–1523), focusing on the motivating forces behind the startling changes in his work caused by shifting devotional practices, changing art markets, the accommodation of foreign clients, and the evolving secular nature of paintings demanded by the newly wealthy middle class in the early years of the sixteenth century. Awarded the C.I.N.O.A. (La Confédération Internationale des Négociants en Oeuvres d’Art) Prize for 1998. -- Metropolitan Museum of Art website.