Chapter 20

Chartreuse de Champmol

A charter house is a Cathusian monastery. Philip the Bold had the Campmol built by Drouet de Dammartin and the sculptor was Jean de Marville.

Tempera paint

A technique of painting using pigment mixed with egg yolk, glue, or casein. Has a more matte (dull) surface.

Annunciation

A theme in many paintings that depicts an angel visiting Mary to tell her she will be the mother of Jesus.

Guild system

An association of merchants, craftsperson, or scholars in medieval and Renaissance Europe. The way to gain admission into the craft one wanted to do. One would be an apprentice, then a journeyman, then join the guild of the craft they had learned.

Mary of Burgundy

Anonymous illuminator who may be Alexander Bening.

Buxheim Saint Christopher

Artist unknown. Example of an inexpensive woodcut that was made before moveable-type printing.

French art in the 15th Century

Artists built on achievements of Gothic painters. Used a lot of manuscript painting.

Ghent altarpiece

Begun by Hubert van Eyck, finished by Jan van Eyck. Nearly 12 feet tall, one of the largest of 15th century. Commissioned by Jodocus Vyd (the mayor).Includes Ghent's patron saints, John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. Annuciation at the upper register. Altarpiece represents whole Christian cycle from the fall of man to redemtion. Oil paints used with a lot of detail in appearance.

A goldsmith in His Shop

By Petrus Christus. Portrays Saint Eligius (originally a goldsmith) sitting in his stall showing a couple a selection of rings. The bride has the girdle of chastity. Had a gold halo added by a later artist which restorers removed. Image was historically credible, and many argue the painting was a vocational painting, not only a religious painting.

Merode Altarpiece

By Robert Campin (Master of Flemalle). Oil on wood. Small altarpiece produced for private patron and intended for household prayer. Integrated religious and secular concerns. Objects had religious symbolism (the Virgin's purity and divine mission).

Deposition

By Rogier van der Weyden. Center of a triptych commissioned by the archer's guild of Louvain for the church of Notre-Dame hors-les-murs. Incorporated crossbow in decorations in corners. Used maximum action in limited space, but unrealistic.

Melun Diptych

Chevalier and his patron saint, Saint Stephen on the left hand side, Virgin and Child on left. Follow the gaze from Chevalier over to the Madonna. Agnes Sorel posed as the model for Virgin Mary and had her left breast exposed.

Holy Roman Empire Art

Did not participate in the Hundred Years' War, so was far more wealthy and had patronage from wealthy merchants and clergy.

15th Century Flemish Art

Fascination with specific and tangible in the visible world. Also featured a lot of oil-based paintings.

Jan van Eyck

First Netherlandish painter to achieve international fame. Court painter of Philip the Good.

Hugo Van Der Goes

Flemish artist who painted a triptych in Flanders that was send to Florence, Italy.

Dieric Bouts

Flemish painter who was the official painter in the city of Louvain.

Panel painting

Independent paintings popular in France for private devotional use with oil paint on wood panels.

Johannes Gutenberg

Invented moveable type.

Rogier Van Der Weyden

Lived in Brussels in 1435, painted Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin for the Guild of Saint Luke. Became known for his portraits and his dynamic compositions stressing human action and drama. Focused on Christian themes.

Jean Fouquet

Lived in Tours. Received commissions from King Charles VII. Fouquet painted a diptych for Etienne Chevalier (the French royal treasurer).

Sculpture in the Holy Roman Empire

Many of the leading 15th-century artists in the Holy Roman Empire specialized in carving large wood retables that revealed the lingering power of the Late Gothic style.

Hans Memling

Might have trained with van der Weyden. Bruges citizen who specialized in portraits of his patrons and images of the Madonna.

Petrus Christus

One of the later Flemish painters

Mary of Burgundy at Prayer

Opening full-page illumination and one of the daily prayers. Mary of Burgundy is depicted. Very detailed Gothic church.

Man in a Red Turban

Painting by Jan Van Eyck where the painted man looks directly at viewer, a first in over a thousand years. Illusion of the eyes following the viewer. Most consider this a self-portrait. The frame reinforces identification. Frame says "As I can."

Manuscript painting

Painting to illuminate books with detailed pictures.

Retable (Altarpiece) de Champmol

Panels done by Melchior Broederlam, Annunciation and Visitation and Presentation in the Temple and Flight into Egypt. These dealt with Christ's birth and infancy. The paintings feature both landscape and interior scenes with buildings in both Romanesque and Gothic styles. Attempted 3-dimensional look and naturalistic representation of landscape.

Virgin with Saints and Angels

Part of the Saint John Altarpiece by Hans Memling. Celebrates the mystic marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria with Christ. Depicted tapestries and brocades and serenity of the figures.

Limbourg Brothers

Pol, Herman, and Jean Limbourg from Nijmegen in the Netherlands who moved to Paris and became innovative manuscript painters. Expanded the illusionistic capabilities of illumination.

Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife

Portrait done by Jan Van Eyck. Depicts the Lucca financier in his home with his second wife. Might be them taking their marriage vows. Dog symbolized fidelity. BRIDE IS NOT PREGNANT. Broom, symbol of domesticity. Another interpretation is Arnolfini giving wife legal privileges in his absence. The artist functions as the witness (seen in the mirror).

Konrad Witz

Showed skill in water effects. Painted in the Holy Roman Empire.

Well of Moses

Taking over the Chartreuse de Champmol, Claus Sluter created a large sculptural fountain located in a well in the cloister. Made o Asnieres limestone, painted and gilded by Jean Malouel. Features statues of Moses and 5 other prophets . The well was called a fountain of everlasting life (fons vitae). Biblical figures done in minute detail.

Philip the Bold

The most powerful northern European ruler during the first three quarters of the 15th century

vanishing point

The point at which receding parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge.

Altarpieces

a major art form north of the Alps in the late 14th and 15th centuries. Were featured behind the altar during Mass. Gave visual form to complex theological concepts.

Oil Paint

a painting technique using oil-based pigments that rose to prominence in northern Europe in the 15th century and is now the standard medium for painting on canvas. Allowed richer colors and intense tonality, the illusion of glowing light, and glistening surfaces. Dries more slowly, giving time for artists to rework areas.

Woodcut

a print created from an incised piece of wood

Silverpoint

a sharp stylus that creates a fine line. Used in Flanders in the 15th century.

Horizon line

a virtual horizontal line across the picture

Last Supper (Bouts)

by Dieric Bouts. Centerpiece of the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament. One of the earliest Northern Renaissance paintings to employ linear perspective and a vanishing point to create the illusion of depth. Did not depict the biblical narrative, but instead shows Jesus as priest performing the role of consecration of the Eucharstic wafer. Four servants are the four members of the confraternity that had Bouts paint the piece.

Tommaso Portinari and Maria Baroncelli

by Hans Memling.

Diptych of Martin van Nieuwenhove

by Hans Memling. Combined a portrait of the titular character and a painting of the Madonna and child scene. Van Nieuwenhove was a very important part of the Bruges government.

Portinari Altarpiece

by Hugo Van Der Goes. Main panel called Adoration of the Shepherds. Was a gift to the church of Sant'Egidio from Tommaso Portinari. Hugo tilted the ground in the painting, much like that of the mystery plays of the time. The architecture and weather in the painting convey the Northern background of the painting. Hugo used medieval pictorial devices and scaled his figures according to importance.

Altarpiece of Saint Peter - Miraculous Draft of Fish

by Konrad Witz. Biblical story of Peter trying to walk on water (Lake Geneva). May be a commentary on the limited power of the pop in Rome. Significant because of the landscape's prominence.

January from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

by Limbourg Brothers. One month from the most famous manuscript illumination. January features the court scene of the Duke of Berry. Tres Riches Heures illuminators reoriented the art of manuscript illumination to approximate more closely the art of panel painting, treating the pages of books as if they were windows onto the world of 15th century northern Europe.

October from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

by Limbourg Brothers. One month from the most famous manuscript illumination. October features a peasant look. Tres Riches Heures illuminators reoriented the art of manuscript illumination to approximate more closely the art of panel painting, treating the pages of books as if they were windows onto the world of 15th century northern Europe.

Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons

by Martin Schongauer. Example of an Engraving, which was used as the new form after woodcutting for art to be put in books.

Madeburga

by Michael Wolgemut and worshop. Example of a Woodcut. Printed by Anton Koberger.

Saint Luke Drawing The Virgin

by Rogier Van Der Weyden. Shows Luke in a private Flemish residence painting Mary while she nurses Jesus. Luke begins by using a silverpoint. Pays homage to painters in Flanders and documents the preparatory work required before artists can begin painting figures and settings. Possibly a self-portrait of Weyden. Had a lot of symbolic significance embedded in painting.

Madonna in the Rose Garden

by Stefan Lochner. German painter who retained more medieval features.

Assumption of the Virgin from Creglingen Altarpiece

by Tilman Riemenschneider. Incorporated Gothic forms, but did not use paint.

Death and Assumption of the Virgin from Altarpiece of the Virgin Mary

by Veit Stoss. Used every figural and ornamental element from the vocabulary of Gothic art to heighten the emotion and glorify the sacred event. Panel was almost 24 feet tall. Example of the polychromy of paint and gilding together.

Engraving

entails cutting or incising lines into a laminated woodblock or polished metal plate

Linear perspective

perceive depth in an image when two parallel lines seem to converge

Orthogonals

the converging lines that are imagines to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane

Northern Renaissance style

the very singular result of a blending of Late Gothic art, contemporary ideas about observation, and, later, Reformation ideology. The European mind in the North at this time saw their Christian God in every aspect of the world, and so the world was depicted with an exacting naturalism that verged on the spiritual.