Glory be to Gossaert

He may not be a household name, and his life is shrouded in mystery but Jan Gossaert's paintings are among the most extraordinary creations of the northern Renaissance. Maev Kennedy travels to Flanders to find out more

In pictures: Jan Gossaert's Renaissance at the National Gallery

The small Belgian town of Mechelen is a quiet place. It grew rich on wool and once made the finest lace in Europe, but it's not hard to guess that the main attraction for many residents these days is its proximity to Brussels, just 20 minutes away by commuter train.

The neat streets are studded, however, with a number of startlingly grand buildings, dating from the glory days the decades in the late 15th and early 16th century when the town was the heart of the territory of the powerful Dukes of Burgundy, who had long since expanded northwards to control an area that stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea.

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