Special exhibitions in the United States and abroad describe the achievements of European artists north of the Alps in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

Northern Renaissance artists receive long overdue attention paid to their spectacular achievements in 11 exhibitions, some already opened and others on the horizon. One has been scheduled to travel.

Bosch and Bruegel in the John G. Johnson Collection

Paintings by the very mysterious Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450-1516), his followers and the family and devotees of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1525/30-1569) are the focus of this exhibition. Bosch's extremely complex compositions, replete with evil-looking fantastic creatures and parodies of society and religion, influenced the works of Bruegel and his profoundly prodigious progeny. Their genre scenes of sixteenth-century village life depict the festivities of peasant weddings, fairs and a variety of secular subjects.

• Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA USA: March 1-November 23, 2007

Temptation in Eden: Lucas Cranach's "Adam and Eve"

Paintings, drawings, engravings and woodcuts by Lucas Cranach the Elder (ca. 1472-1553) describe the prolific painter's preoccupation with the role of Eve in the Fall of Man. They also demonstrate his keen powers of observation when visually recording the natural world.

• Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London, England: June 21-September 23, 2007

Drawings from Renaissance Germany

Works on paper by virtuoso draftsman, designer, printmaker and painter Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), such as One of the Wise Virgins (1493) and Emperors Charlemagne and Sigismund (ca. 1510), accompany others by his contemporaries.

• Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, London, England: June 21-September 23, 2007

Patinir and the Invention of Landscape

Landscape painting and its invention by Flemish artist Joachim Patinir (1475/85-1524) are explored through 22 works by the master and 26 produced by his followers and contemporaries.

• Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain: July 3-October 7, 2007

Pieter Brueghel the Younger: An Intimate Encounter

This focus exhibition of paintings by Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564/65-1637/38) features his Netherlandish Proverbs (1610) and Wedding Dance in the Open Air (after 1610), superb studies in sixteenth-century northern European society and culture.

• Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY USA: August 26-November 4, 2007

Albrecht Dürer: Prints from the Foundation of Lower Saxony and the Konrad Liebmann Foundation, Germany

More than 70 works on paper by German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) are on view. His complete Apocalypse (1498) and Life of the Virgin (1511) series are joined by Dürer's signature woodcut etchings Adam and Eve (1504), Knight, Death and the Devil (1512), Melancholia I (1514) and St. Jerome in His Study (1514).

• Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX USA: September 8-November 25, 2007

Albrecht Dürer: Prints from the Collection of the Städel Museum

The development of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) as a printmaker is chronicled through the Städel Museum's extensive collection of his works on paper that have not been on view in more than 30 years due to their light-sensitive nature. They include The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (ca. 1497-98), Four Naked Women (The Four Witches) (1497), The Sea Monster (1498), Rhinoceros (1515) and Erasmus of Rotterdam (1526).

• Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany: September 27, 2007-January 6, 2008

Dürer and Cranach: Art and Humanism in the German Renaissance

Tumultuous political and religious developments in Europe from the late 15th to the mid-16th Century, as well as new ideas from Italy, influenced the art and culture of Renaissance Germany. This convergence of concepts is seen in the works of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Lucas Cranach the Elder (ca. 1472-1553) and their peers.

• Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain: October 9, 2007-January 6, 2008

Cranach the Elder

This major international loan exhibition features more than 100 works by popular German Renaissance painter, draftsman and engraver Lucas Cranach the Elder (ca. 1472-1553), highlighting his sensitive portraits as well as religious and erotic compositions. A Princess of Saxony (ca. 1517) from Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art is one of the show's many highlights.

• Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany: November 23, 2007-February 17, 2008
• Royal Academy of Arts, London, England: March 8-June 8, 2008

Art of Light: German Renaissance Stained Glass

Stained glass and paintings from 15th- and 16th-century Germany are displayed together, demonstrating that both art forms frequently used the same imagery and innovations.

• National Gallery, London, England: November 7, 2007-February 17, 2008

The Birth of Modern Painting: Robert Campin, the Master of Flémalle, and Rogier van der Weyden

Robert Campin or the Master of Flémalle (ca. 1375-1444) and his pupil, Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400-1464), were central to the development of early Netherlandish painting in fifteenth-century Europe. A number of their works, some still indistinguishable from each other in terms of authorship, will be compared in this landmark presentation intended to spark renewed scholarly debate about their creation and significance.

• Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany: November 21, 2008-February 22, 2009