The Picture Motet
Also the picture motets from the 16th and 17th centuries combine image with music, but the concept is clearly different from illuminated manuscripts. The music of the image motet is very small but precisely printed. The image itself is much larger and attracts the greatest attention. Yet, the music is equally important, because music and image form one unity: the image is linked to the motet and vice versa. Picture motets are a typical phenomenon of the Low Countries at the time of the counter-Reformation. The most important center is Antwerp. Picture motets were officially recognized in 2012 as masterpieces of Flemish heritage.