Test #2

Hugo van der Goes

(born c. 1440—died 1482, Roode Kloster, near Brussels [now in Belgium]), one of the greatest Flemish painters of the second half of the 15th century, whose strange, melancholy genius found expression in religious works of profound but often disturbing spirituality. Van der Goes's earlier and more tentative style shows that he had studied the leading Netherlandish masters of the first half of the 15th century. A diptych (begun about 1467) in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, reflected an awareness of the Ghent Altarpiece of Jan van Eyck in the Fall of Man, while the Lamentation is reminiscent of Rogier van der Weyden. A comparison between the large Adoration of the Magi and The Nativity reveals the direction in which van der Goes's later works were to evolve. The Adoration is spatially rational, compositionally tranquil, and harmonious in colour. By contrast, the Nativity (also called Adoration of the Shepherds), a later work painted on a curiously elongated panel, is disturbing even in its format—an emotionally charged supernatural drama on an uncomfortably low stage revealed by the drawing of curtains. This exploitation of space and colour for emotional potentiality rather than rational effect characterizes van der Goes's later works. It appears in the Holy Trinity Adored by Sir Edward Bonkil and The Royal Family of Scotland, panels that were probably designed as organ shutters (c. 1478-79), and culminates in the Death of the Virgin, executed not long before van der Goes's death. The unearthly colours of this work are particularly disturbing, and its poignancy is intensified by the controlled grief seen in the faces of the Apostles, who are placed in irrationally conceived space. Van der Goes's art, with its affinities to Mannerism, and his tortured personality have found a particularly sympathetic response in the 20th century.

Gerard David

(born c. 1460, Oudewater, Netherlands—died August 13, 1523, Bruges [now in Belgium]), Flemish painter who was the last great master of the Bruges school. Very little is known about David's early life, during which time his work reflects the influence of Jacob Janszoon, Dieric Bouts, and Geertgen Tot Sint Jans. He went to Bruges, presumably from Haarlem, where it is believed he formed his early style under the instruction of A. van Ouwater. He joined the guild of St. Luke at Bruges in 1484 and became dean in 1501. In his early work, such as Christ Nailed to the Cross (c. 1480) and the Nativity (early 1480s), he followed the Haarlem tradition as represented by Ouwater and Geertgen but already gave evidence of his superior power as a colourist. In Bruges he studied masterpieces by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, and Hugo van der Goes, and he came under the influence of Hans Memling. To this period belong the Madonna Triptych (c. 1495-98) and the Enthroned Madonna with Angels (c. 1490-95). But the works on which David's fame rests most securely are his great altarpieces—the Judgment of Cambyses (two panels, 1498) and the triptych of the Baptism of Christ (c. 1502-07) at Bruges; the Virgin and Child with Saints and Donor (c. 1505); the Annunciation (1506) on two panels; and, above all, the documented altarpiece of the Madonna with Angels and Saints (1509). These are mature works—severe yet richly coloured, showing a masterful handling of light, volume, and space. The Judgment panels are especially notable for being among the earliest Flemish paintings to employ such Italian Renaissance devices as putti and garlands. In Antwerp David became impressed by the life and movement in the work of Quentin Massys, who had introduced a more intimate and more human conception of sacred themes. David's Deposition (c. 1515) and the Crucifixion (c. 1510-15) were painted under this influence and are remarkable for their dramatic movement. Authorities disagree about the intent of David's eclectic, deliberately archaic manner. Some feel that he drew on earlier masters in an effort, doomed by lack of imagination, to revive the fading art of Bruges. Others see David as a progressive artist who sought to base his innovations on the achievements of the founders of the Netherlandish school.

Adriaen van Wesel

(c. 1417-shortly after 1490) Little is known about medieval sculptors, often not even their name. Adriaen van Wesel is an exception; numerous documents relating to his work and commissions have survived. He lived and worked in his native Utrecht throughout his life. He was a prominent figure in the town: he served in the militia, and was a burgess on the city council. Van Wesel's sculptures were much in demand and his style was highly influential. He left a considerable body of work, including fragments of an altarpiece depicting the life of the Virgin Mary made for St Jan's cathedral in Den Bosch. Detailed records have survived relating to this altarpiece, providing a valuable insight into the way work was commissioned and studios were run in the late Middle Ages. Van Wesel's sculptures have typical recurring features: the wig-like hair of his figures and their slightly drooping eye-lids

Petrus Christus

- student/successor to Jan van Eyck Netherlandish painter. He is first documented at Bruges in 1444, and he is thought by some authorities to have been the pupil of Jan van Eyck and to have completed some of the works left unfinished by the master at his death in 1444 (e.g. St Jerome, Detroit Institute of Arts). It is certainly true that he was overwhelmingly influenced by van Eyck, and his copies and variations of his work helped to spread the Eyckian style. Christus's work is more summary than van Eyck's, however, his figures sometimes rather doll-like and without van Eyck's feeling of inner life. The influence of Rogier van der Weyden is also evident in Christus's work; the Lamentation (Musees Royaux, Brussels) is clearly based on van der Weyden's great Prado Deposition, but the figures have completely lost their dramatic impact.

Dieric Bouts

Bouts's style is distinguished by harmonic compositions in a rich, clear and warm palette of colour. His figures are tall, statuesque and turned inwards. The presentations are hardly emotional. He is likewise called the 'painter of the silence'. The realism and monumentality that are characteristic of the so-called Flemish primitives are also to be found in Bouts's work. His paintings exhibit thematic and compositional influence of Rogier van der Weyden, whose masterpiece The Descent from the Cross was still in Leuven at the time. Bouts's precise observation and register of the reality clearly point towards Jan van Eyck.

The Buxheim Saint Christopher

Creation Year: 1423 Medium: hand-colored woodcut Notes: single-sheet for pilgrims "Whenever you look at the face of Christopher, in truth, you will not die a terrible death that day."

Annunciation with Fall of Eve and Gideon's Fleece Biblia pauperum

Creation Year: c. 1465 Medium: woodcut from the block book manuscript

meeting of the three kings

Creator: Adriaen van Wesel (1417-1499 Creation Year: c. 1476 Medium: wood (oak) Country: south netherlandish

S Peters, Altar Piece of the Last Supper

Creator: Bouts, Dieric the Elder Creation Year: 1464-1468 CE Medium: Tempera on wood Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th century Worktype: Painting Country: Belgium Scholars also have noted that Bouts's Last Supper was the first Flemish panel painting to depict the Last Supper. In this central panel, Bouts did not focus on the biblical narrative itself but instead presented Christ in the role of a priest performing the consecration of the Eucharistic host from the Catholic Mass. This contrasts strongly with other Last Supper depictions, which often focused on Judas's betrayal or on Christ's comforting of John.[2] Bouts also added to the complexity of this image by including four servants (two in the window and two standing), all dressed in Flemish attire. Although once identified as the artist himself and his two sons, these servants are most likely portraits of the confraternity's members responsible for commissioning the altarpiece. The Last Supper was the central part of the altarpiece in the St. Peter's Church, Leuven.

Nativity

Creator: Campin, Robert Creation Year: 1420 CE Culture: Flemish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands Like many other depictions of the Birth, the tableau is based on a vision of the Swedish saint Birgitta (Bridget, 1302-1373). She claimed Mary described to her how she kneeled in prayer, the shining child before her. Joseph was said to be holding a candle, and angels were singing. The two women on the right are midwifes. According to an apocryphal book, Joseph had summoned them to assist his wife. One of them suffered from a paralyzed hand, but the angel in white calls her to touch the child so that she will be healed: "Tangue puerum et sanabaris". Campin also displayed a group of shepherds, which makes this painting an Adoration of the shepherds as well. This panel is often praised for its magnificent landscape. Campin used techniques that many others would copy: a road winding away, and the background in lighter colors that make the horizon fade into the sky. On the left, the sun rises behind the mountains, signaling renewal.

Annunciation with Patrons and Saint Joseph in His Workshop

Creator: Campin, Robert Creation Year: 1425-1430 CE Medium: oil on wood Culture: Flemish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands The piece is a hinged triptych, or three part panel. It was probably commissioned for private use, as the central panel is a relatively small 64 x 63 cm and each wing measures 65 x 27 cm. The portraits of the donors are in the left panel; the figure of the female donor, and the servant behind her, appear to have been added to the painting after completion by a different artist, perhaps after the donor married.[3] They are identifiable as bourgeoisie from nearby Mechelen who are documented in Tournai in 1427, by the coats-of-arms in stained-glass in the window of the central panel.[4] The central panel shows an Annunciation to Mary or, strictly, the moment before, as Mary is still unaware of the angel. A tiny figure of Christ, holding a cross, flies down towards Mary, representing her impregnation by God. An unusual scene of Saint Joseph at work as a carpenter occupies the right-hand panel. A further unusual feature is that although Mary and Joseph do not marry until after the Annunciation, here they are shown apparently living together at that point. The work is at The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There is another version of the central panel in Brussels, which may represent the original version by Campin. The work was owned by the aristocratic Belgian Arenberg and Mérode families before reaching the art market.

The Legend of S Eligius and Godeberta

Creator: Christus, Petrus Creation Year: 1449 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands A man and woman stand behind a man who is seated at a wooden table and holds a scale. The interior setting is rife with accoutrement. The attire of the woman is rich in decoration and her headpiece is elaborate. The shelves hold containers and other miscellaneous items. A heavy green drapery hangs behind the seated man. Three figures in a narrow interior. The convex mirror shows two men standing on the street outside. Like the spectator, they are gazing into the picture space: a goldsmith's workshop. Guild regulations demanded a shop be open to the street so that customers could assure themselves that a smith was not guilty of doctoring his precious metals. The goldsmith is painted in the act of weighing a ring; a young, richly dressed couple looks on attentively. However, the eyes of the goldsmith are not focused on the scales in his hand but raised in an upward gaze. He is more than an ordinary artisan: he is the patron saint of goldsmiths, St. Eligius. The artist has added a Latin inscription to the bottom edge of the 98 x 85 cm panel. Translated, it reads: "Petrus Christus made me in the year 1449." This was unusual in the 15th century; artists tended to remain anonymous and rarely dated their paintings. Little is known of the artist's life: he acquired the citizenship of Bruges on 6th July 1444; in 1462 he joined a brotherhood; he is mentioned seven years later as a distinguished member of the artists' guild, which also registered his death in 1473. Petrus Christus was born at Baerle, probably in 1415. It is thought he may have been the pupil of Jan van Eyck (c. 1370— 1441), and that he completed works left unfinished by the master at his death before founding his own workshop, for which he was obliged to acquire citizenship. 1449, the year in which he painted St. Eligius, also saw the dedication in Bruges of the Chapel of Smiths, the guild to which goldsmiths belonged. Perhaps this event occasioned Petrus Christus's painting of St. Eligius in his workshop. In the 19th century the painting entered the collection of a German who claimed to have bought it from a Dutchman. The Dutchman had apparently claimed to be the sole surviving member of the Antwerp Goldsmiths' Guild. Antwerp had overtaken Bruges as a centre of trade and commerce in the late 15th century. Perhaps the painting followed the flow of money. Today it is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. The painting is a devotional work, but it also served as a kind of advertisement for the goldsmiths' craft and guild. Behind the pious man, Petrus Christus has arrayed a selection of rings, silver pitchers, a chain, brooches and pearls -luxury goods for which, in the year 1449, there was considerable demand in the wealthy town of Bruges. At that time the town belonged to the Duchy of Burgundy, a kingdom amassed in three generations by the French dukes of Valois, extending from the French province of Burgundy, which bordered with Switzerland, to the North Sea. Its commercial capital, and indeed that of the whole of northern Europe, was Bruges. Ships sailed here from the Mediterranean, England and the Hanseatic ports. Bruges was a busy overseas trading centre for timber, cereals, furs and dried cod from the north, and for wine, carpets, silks and spices from the south. In one day in 1457, Bruges's harbour on the Zwijn at Sluis contained two Spanish and 42 British caravels, three Venetian galleys, a Portuguese hulk and twelve sailing ships from Hamburg. These were good times -not least for producers of luxury goods. The merchants of the day devoted special attention to weighing goods, for different countries used different units of measurement and fear of fraud 'was widespread. In 1282, the merchants of the Hanse had managed to have one of their own weighing scales, constructed in Lubeck, set up in Bruges. That a saint should be painted in the act of weighing, in which trust played such an essential part, rather than executing some other form of work, is probably no coincidence. Trade attracted finance, and Italian banks chose Bruges as a base for their northern branches. The gold coins of many nations circulated in the town. On the saint's counter can be seen gulden from Mainz, English angels and, of course, the heavy "riders" of Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy (1396-1467), regent during Petrus Christus's lifetime.

Chartreuse de Champmol, Well of Moses Moses, detail

Creator: Claus Sluter Creation Year: 1395-1405 CE Medium: stone Culture: French Period: Northern Renaissance Worktype: Sculpture Country: France The Well of Moses (fr: Puits de Moïse) is a monumental sculpture recognised as the masterpiece of the Dutch artist Claus Sluter (1340-1405/6). It was executed by Sluter and his workshop in 1395-1403 for the Carthusian monastery of Chartreuse de Champmol built as a burial site by the Burgundian Duke Philip the Bold just outside the Burgundian capital of Dijon, now in France. The work was executed for Philip's son, John the Fearless (1371-1419), in a style combining the elegance of International Gothic with a northern realism, but with a monumental quality unusual in either. It was carved from stone quarried in Asnières, France and consisted of a large crucifixion scene or "Calvary", with a tall slender cross surmounting a hexagonal base which was surrounded by the figures of the six prophets who had foreseen the death of Christ on the Cross (Moses, David, Jeremiah, Zachariah, Daniel and Isaiah). Standing on slender colonnettes on the corners between these prophets are six weeping angels. All the figures, including the lost Calvary group, were richly painted and gilded by Jean Malouel, and some of this paint remains. Thanks to the survival of the ducal accounts, the commission and ongoing work is unusually well documented.[1] It was traditionally assumed that the Calvary scene would have included the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalen, and St. John, though recent research (based on a close reading of the archives and an examination of the fixing-points on top of the base) suggests that there was only one figure, the Magdalen, embracing the foot of the Cross.[2] Situated in the central courtyard of what was then the main cloister, the building enclosing the well was added in the 17th century, when the upper parts of the work were already suffering from weather damage. The work was further damaged in 1791, during the French Revolution. Only fragments of the Crucifixion survive, including the head and torso of Christ;[3] they are now housed in the Musée Archéologique in Dijon. The hexagonal base with its sculptures remains in what is now the Hospital de la Chartreuse, and can be seen by tourists.

Virgin and Child with prayer wings

Creator: David, Gerard Creation Year: 1490 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands Notes: after van der Goes Both figures in the central panel have gilded halos. Mary is shown as be very young, likely no older than 15. She has blue green-eyes and reddish blond hair which is decorated with a green striped headband studded with an ornament jeweled with a ruby, two pearls and a diamond. She wears a long blue mantle which veils her face and drapes over her purple under-dress and blue fur-lined dress. The fur line extends beneath the child. The child has short blond hair and blue eyes, and is cradled by Mary's hand; her long fine fingers are shown reaching under his legs and across the lower chest. He is shown sitting on white cloth, toying with a string of red coral rosary beads which cast a shadow over his chest. The beads are strung on a green chord which drapes over his shoulder.[7] At the time coral was used to protect children from evil spirits.[2] Areas of the central panel have faded or are damaged, especially around the child's cheek, and across the Virgin's veil. As a result it was heavily over-painted before acquired by Layard. All three were cleaned and restored by the National Gallery in 1957, when most of the over-paint was removed.[4] Detail showing Mary's the jeweled ornament on her headband. While the background of the center panel is painted in solid black the black of the outer wings is mixed with red earth. The reverse of each panel is coated with thick matt black, although they has been at some early point layered with white paint.[7] The lack of any background detail is unusual for paintings of the era, but along with the close cropping, reinforces the intimacy of the panel. In addition, it removes the figures from any earthly context, and further reinforces their idealised and sacred presentation, they seem far removed from our own world.[3] The single oak boards of the outer wings are both of vertical grain, and it is likely that the hinges are original 1500 c. They wings are still shuttable via an outer hook which fits with a ring on the back of the left panel. Both nail and hook seem to be original.[7]

Flight into Egypt

Creator: David, Gerard Creation Year: 1500-1510 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 16th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands The short biblical account of the Flight into Egypt (Matt. 2:13-14) was elaborated upon by Early Christian and medieval theologians. In one of these apocryphal legends, the weary family paused during their journey after three days of travel. The Virgin longed for food, but the date-palm branches were too high for Joseph to pick any fruit. Thereupon Jesus commanded the tree to lower its branches. David deemphasized this miracle by giving Joseph a sturdy stick and by replacing the date palm with a Flemish chestnut tree, but a sixteenth-century audience would have remembered the apocryphal story. There are also indications of the special significance of the family: the Madonna wears robes in her symbolic colors of red and blue; fine rays of golden light emanate from the mother's head and that of the child; and the bunch of grapes held by the Madonna is a well-known symbol of the Eucharist. David created a mood of calm equilibrium. The Madonna and Child are centrally placed, while receding diagonals and alternating bands of light and dark skillfully lead back into the landscape and harmoniously relate the figures to their surroundings. The predominance of the restful color blue throughout the composition unifies the work. All in all, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is one of Gerard David's loveliest and most peaceful creations.

Altarpiece of the Baptism of Christ

Creator: David, Gerard Creation Year: 1502-1507 CE Medium: panel Culture: Netherlandish Period: 16th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands The Baptism of Christ forms the central section of a triptych commissioned by the treasurer of the city of Bruges, Jean Trompes. The wings show the donor's family and patron saints on the inside, and the Virgin and Child and the donor's first wife with St Elizabeth on the outside. Nowhere does the artist demonstrate more clearly both his talents and his limitations. The present scene contains virtually no action. The kneeling figures of John the Baptist and the angel dressed in a sumptuous cope reveal a mutual correspondence in their approximate symmetry and subtly differentiated positions. The panel's central axis is strongly emphasized by the figure of Christ, the dove of the Holy Ghost and the apparition of God the Father. In David's paintings the landscape forming the background to religious scenes takes on the motionless and precious look of something whose serenity opposes it to the tragedy of what is happening in the picture. One has only to look at the forest in the background of the Baptism of Christ, with its huge ivy-covered trunks, the strong rhythm of its escarpments and its foliage standing out against the blue of the distance. The still life of flowers in the foreground is characterized by a dazzling wealth of minute detail. This altarpiece was at one time considered one of the best works of Memling. The study of its wing panels was rightly recommended to landscape painters as the work of a marvellous painter of foliage.

Forest Landscape, detail

Creator: David, Gerard Creation Year: 1515 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 16th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands Notes: outside wings of triptych

panels of justice for Louvain "Justice of Otto III" and "Wrongful Execution of the Count"

Creator: Dieric Bouts Creation Year: 1470-1475 Medium: panel The second panel of Bouts's Justice of the Emperor Otto, entitled "Trial by Fire," depicts the scene described in the quoted passage above. It is split up into two distinct scenes. The first addresses the plea and ordeal of the nobleman's wife. The second, smaller and in the background, shows the punishment of Otto III's guilty wife. In this panel, Otto III sits on his marble throne on a raised dais in the royal chambers. Surrounded by six officials—probably officials of Louvain anachronistically incorporated into the scene—he sits in his capacity as supreme judge of the empire. He bears his royal robe, of rich red and gold brocade, opulently lined with brown ermine. Crowned, he holds also his scepter in his right hand. He appears solicitous to the grieving widow who appears before him with her plea. Nestled in her right arm is the lifeless head of her husband. Held confidently in her left hand is a red-hot iron bar—she obviously passes the trial by ordeal. The emperor is attentive; indeed, he appears touched, on the edge of repentance, as he has his left hand placed over his heart. In a real way, he is the defendant of the widow's plaint, and—against the fundamental axiom of justice that no one should be the judge of his own cause—he must adjudicate against himself and against his wife to find for the widow. Though he must judge himself and his family, the truth of his rash judgment as well as his wife's infidelity and perjury, appears to have struck him deeply. And in response he judges, and tries to put undue the harm his rash judgment caused. He condemns his lying and unfaithful wife to death. Through the doorway on the left side of the panel, one can see a bleak and dry landscape, clearly the place of execution outside the town. By the path that leads to the place of execution is red brick wall, with a lion sejant, a symbol perhaps of and attribute of Justice, or perhaps a reference to the lions that decorated the throne of Solomon.13 This is a Justice that comes too late, and, though it cannot undue the entire harm, at least it comes. On a hill is a lighted pyre around a pole, and tightly bound to the pole is Otto III's wife, condemned to die by burning by her husband the emperor. Perhaps the fires are symbolic of her eternal fate: will she also end in the fires of Dante's hell and lie smoldering with "la falsa ch'accusò Gioseppo?"14 There remains some hope for the emperor's wife if she took advantage of the last confession offered to her by the religious habited in white—perhaps a Cistercian—who accompanied her to her last moments. God's mercy extends to the very threshold of life for the repentant.

Altarpiece of the Deposition

Creator: Dieric Bouts Creation Year: c. 1450-55 Medium: panel Country: Flanders

Madonna of the Rosary after 1480 panel

Creator: Geertgen tot Sint Jans Creation Year: 1480 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands Also known as The glorification of Mary. As predicted in Genesis 3:15, the snake of the original sin is crushed by a woman. The snake is shown here as a dragon, and the woman is probably Mary, Eve's successor. More importantly, this panel refers to the first verses of chapter 12 in John's Revelation. John speaks of a vision of a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Geertgen here has the crown resting on a bed of white and red roses - literally a rosary. Surrounding the woman are three spheres with angels. In the inner circle are cherubs and seraphs (six-winged angels), two of them holding the crown. The angels in the second ring carry elements from the Passion: a nail, a cross, a spear, a pillar. The top angels in this sphere hold banners with the text Sanctus, a reference to the glorification of Mary. In the outer ring, the angels play instruments popular in Geertgen's days. One of them has eye contact with the infant Jesus, who also plays bells.

St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness

Creator: Geertgen tot Sint Jans Creation Year: 1490-1495 CE Medium: panel Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands With Geertgen tot Sint Jans Netherlandish painting ventures into the deep waters of a mysticism and fantasy which are nearer to those of the German painters. The secular spirit seems to be beginning to take the stage: we are entering into a different kind of expression, in which man's own thought, his inventions and his dreams will impregnate his life and his surroundings. A good example is the St John in the Wilderness. With his cheek resting on one hand, the saint sits dreaming, thinking, meditating in the loveliest, most subtle, most tenderly green of landscapes, as the sun sets amid the flutter of wings, the piping of birds and the gentle ripping of the brook to which a stag has come down to drink. Behind St John the lamb is seen sitting, waiting for the prophecy to be accomplished and for the Lamb of God to came to him for Baptism. This link the picture with Van Eyck's Mystic Lamb - but in reverse order, so to speak, since here the scenes do not take place in their historical and chronological sequence. But with the great things there is no such thing as history.

Burning of the Bones of Saint John the Baptist

Creator: Geertgen tot Sint Jans Creation Year: after 1484 Medium: panel A monumental altarpiece was commissioned from Geertgen in 1484 for the Chapel of the Knights of St John in Haarlem, probably for the special visit of the grand prior of the Order of the Knights of St John to Haarlem. The inner right wing of the huge triptych depicted the Lamentation, while the exterior of the right wing showed the Burning of the Bones of St John the Baptist. The two panels are now in Vienna, the other parts of the triptych are lost. The exterior of the right wing represents the legend of the burning of the bones of St John the Baptist and their recovery by the original Knights of Malta. The five figures standing beside the open sarcophagus wearing the Maltese cross are the officers of the Haarlem commandery of the Knights. They appear a second time on the path that leads to the church in the right background carrying the relics, a thighbone and a finger, that were presented to the Order in Rhodes in 1482-83. Six other figures appear to the right of those in Maltese uniform. The one to the extreme right, gazing dreamingly into space, is the artist himself. The two panels in the Vienna museum make Geertgen the ancestor of the painters of "collective portraits", of which Frans Hals and Rembrandt were to be the great masters.

Martyrdom of St Lucy

Creator: Geertgen tot Sint Jans Creation Year: c. 1480 Medium: panel The painting depicts various scenes from the legend and martyrdom of St Lucy as related in the Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine († 1298).1 The dimensions, the number of planks making up the panel, stylistic similarities with the painting from which the artist takes his name, and the Viennese provenance show that The martyrdom of St Lucy once formed a single unit with The Deposition formerly in the collection of Albert Figdor in Vienna, which was lost during the Second World War

detail, Night Nativity

Creator: Geertgen tot Sint Jans Creation Year: c. 1480-85 Medium: panel This is one of the most engaging and convincing early treatments of the Nativity as a night scene. The brilliant light in the foreground comes from the Christ Child in the crib. It illuminates the figure of the Virgin, who bends forward, hands joined in prayer, Saint Joseph in the background, and the figures of the delighted small angels to the left. The radiance of the angel announcing the birth to the shepherds on the distant hillside provides another contrast between darkness and divine light. A third and lesser source of light comes from the shepherds' fire. The idea of the infant Christ illuminating the Nativity scene comes from the writings of the 14th-century Saint Bridget of Sweden. She wrote that in her visions the light of the new-born child was so bright 'that the sun was not comparable to it'. A century later, the interest of artists such as Geertgen in depicting naturalistically the contrasts of extreme light and shade served to heighten the sense of the miraculous birth.

The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine

Creator: Gerard David Creation Year: 1505 Medium: oil on panel Comparable with Italian Sacra Conversazione compositions from around 1500, David's panel is characterized by a happy balance between stillness and movement, between space and plane, and between the overall homogeneity of the composition and the careful execution of its details. The starting-point for the present picture was probably Jan van Eyck's Virgin and Child and Canon van der Paele. Here, however, the arrangement of the figures in a concave curve is freer, the anatomical detail more animated. The kneeling donor, with his powerful plastic modelling and portrait-like features, is set against the aristocratically refined figures of the saints. The facial types employed for the women recall Hans Memling, whose leading position in Bruges painting was inherited by David. The painter renounces virtually all movement. St Catherine, identified as a princess by her crown, turns shyly towards Christ, who places a ring on her finger. The exquisite execution of details - accessories, clothes, the carpet hanging behind the Virgin and the still-lifes of flowers on either side of the throne once again points to the influence of Jan van Eyck. A tendency towards multiplicity and diversity is evinced by the townscape seen over the city wall, where secular buildings are combined with grandiose civic architecture in what were then modern architectural forms. The lower storeys of the tower possibly contain a reference to the belfry in Bruges.

Monforte Altarpiece, central panel

Creator: Goes, Hugo van der Creation Year: 1472 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands The panel depicts Mary with the Child on her womb, subject of the adoration of the three Magi. One of the latter, with a flashing red mantle, is kneeling in front of her; his crown with fur edges lies on the ground next to him, together with a container full of gold coins. Joseph, behind Mary, is perhaps pointing at them with an amazed expression. Behind the first king are another one, also kneeling and aged, and a younger one standing, with black skin. The former, who has a hand on his chest while another is catching the gift, wears a crown above a red velvet beret, and has a fur-lined hood which partially hides a sword hilt. His garments are completed by a saddlebag decorated by two pearls and two daisies. The last king is already holding his gift; he is also dressed sumptuously, including the spurs, and is accompanied by three servants. In the background are several shepherds, including a bearded one with a fur hat decorated by feather, who could be the artist's self-portrait. All the characters' glances converge on the baby Jesus, who, instead, looks towards the observer. As usual in early Netherlandish art, the ground in the lower part is painted in wide angle perspective. Symbolic details scattered in the picture include an iris flower at left and a small still life with a bowl, a pot, a wooden spoon and a piece of bread in a wall niche. At left is a landscape with the Magi procession, with several buildings and lake where grooms and horses are resting. Another portion of landscape is in the middle part, with two shepherds pointing at something, an aged woman and a child: the latter characters could be a reference to St. Elizabeth and the young St. John the Baptist visiting Jesus. In the upper part are two pink and yellow drapes. These is what remains of the angels flying towards the comet, and are now lost; a similar theme appears in Jan Gossaert's Adoration of the Magi.

Portinari altarpiece, wheat vine vase, flowers

Creator: Goes, Hugo van der Creation Year: 1475-1476 CE Medium: oil on wood Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands In the foreground, the exquisite still life - consisting of two vases of flowers and a sheaf of wheat - is a reference to the Eucharist and the Passion. The wheat alludes to the Last Supper, when Jesus broke the bread. The vine leaves and grapes on the vase relate to the wine. The white irises symbolize purity, while the orange lilies refer to the Passion (the red carnations symbolize to the bloodied nails of Christ's cross); the purple irises and columbine stalks represent the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary. Thus, taken as a whole, this scene of Christ's Nativity prefigures the later Salvation which he achieves through his death.

Portinari altarpiece, open

Creator: Goes, Hugo van der Creation Year: 1476-1478 CE Medium: oil on wood Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Belgium

Portinari Altarpiece - Right panel

Creator: Goes, Hugo van der Creation Year: 1476-1478 CE Medium: oil on wood Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands

Death of the Virgin

Creator: Goes, Hugo van der Creation Year: 1480 CE Medium: panel Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands Death of the Virgin was almost certainly painted on commission and along with his Monforte and Portinari altarpieces is one of van der Goes most important works. It is likely one of his last paintings finished before he died. According to art historian Till-Holger Borchert, the panel "belongs to the most impressive and artistically mature achievements of Early Netherlandish painting".[4] According to Lorne Campbell, the painting is van der Goes' "most idiosyncratic masterpiece".[5] Mary is shown lying in a blue robe with a white headdress on a timber bed with her head resting on a white pillow against a headboard. Her skin is thin and pallid, her hands clasped in prayer. She is surrounded by the twelve apostles who crowd around her bed. Peter is dressed in the white robes of a priest and holds a candle which in the then contemporary ritual will be handed to the dying woman. Above her Christ appears in a halo of light, holding his arms open to receive Mary's soul,[6] while his palms are open to display the wounds sustained at Calvary. With this gesture, Christ identifies himself as both redeemer and conqueror of death.[4] The Death marks a break in van der Goes style; line has become more important, setting is eliminated and the image lacks depth and is tightly contracted with only the bed, door and the body of the Virgin giving spatial indicators.[7] It is renowned for not showing the apostles either in the traditional idealised manner nor as conventional figure types, but instead representing each as a unique individual, displaying their grief through a range of expressions and gestures, from sorrow and despair, to empathy and compassion. Because the artist has not used traditional representation it is difficult to identify each apostle.[8] The work is the best known and famous of one of a number of paintings after the death of Mary attributed to van der Goes or followers. Some art historians, including Friedrich Winkler (1964), believe he painted at least three versions, although it is generally accepted that preparatory sketches made for the Bruges work were later copied reproduced as paintings by late 15th century followers. Two similar paintings in the Berlin State Museums, the National Gallery, London, are attributed as "after van der Goes". They are usually thought to be later versions of a pen on paper drawing in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, probably a copy of an original preparatory sketch by van der Goes.[2] These works are similar to the Bruges paintings, but show the image in reverse.[5] Infra-red photography shows that the composition was planned a highly detailed manner before the underdrawing was applied. Art historian Lorne Campbell writes, "it is possible that the Brunswick drawing reflects one of his earliest ideas for the Bruges painting and that the Berlin, Prague and London pictures echo, however distantly, a later stage in his development of the Bruges composition.[9] Martin Schongauer, The Death of the Virgin, engraving, early 1470s. The painting has been the subject of intense debate as to its date and meaning. Van der Goes spent the final years of his life submerged in depression. A number of art historians, including Max Friedländer, view the work as painted c. 1480 when the artist first began to display signs of mental suffering and thus view it as an expression of his illness. The artist's late life—he died in either 1482 or 1483—susceptibility to depression and insanity was discovered in 1863 in a chronicle by his contemporary Gaspar Ofhuys, who recorded a night in 1480 when van der Goes began to excitedly talk about how he was a doomed, lost soul and attempted to commit suicide and had to be forcibly held down. This account greatly added to the painting's value in the eyes of late-19th-century painters. Vincent van Gogh mentions van der Goes three times in his letters, first in 1873 to his brother Theo, and on two more occasions when he wrote that he identified with the portrait of van der Goes in Emile Wauters's emotionally rendered 1872 painting Hugo van der Goes Undergoing Treatment at the Red Cloister.[7] Art historian Erwin Panofsky described van der Goes as "the first artist to live up to a concept unknown to the Middle Ages but cherished by the European mind ever after, the concept of a genius both blessed and cursed with his diversity from ordinary human beings." Panofsky goes on to describe how the work's flatness represents an "irrationality of space, light, colour, [the] expression of the artist's mental illness".[10] Other art historians, including Dirk de Vos and Susan Koslow, reject this thesis and argue that a wholly individualised conception of the scene would not have been acceptable to the painting's commissioners. In their view the pared down and contracted manner of the work is due to a desire to "stress the solemnity of the event and its miraculous nature, van der Goes may have decided that material richness would be distracting and indecorous."[10] Van der Goes was a highly progressive and original artist, but at the same time heavily influenced by both contemporary and predecessor artists. Inspiration for this work can be detected in Petrus Christus' c 1457-67 Death of the Virgin[5] and by works attributed to the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden.[11] The painting bears striking similarity to Martin Schongauer's c 1470-75 engraving of the same name, especially in its overall tone and mood, the depiction of Mary and the representation of the apostles seated to Mary's left. Yet there are significant differences; the bed in Schongauer's engraving is canopied and the distribution of the apostles is very different in the two works. The Schongauer is dated to at latest 1475, and it is a matter of significant and at times harsh and divisive critical debate as to which work came first (see above).[11]

Portinari Altarpiece, closed exterior

Creator: Goes, Hugo van der Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands In the central panel, three shepherds fall to their knees before the child Jesus. Van der Goes painted these rustic characters very realistically. Kneeling angels surround the Virgin and the Child, who is not in a crib but lies on the ground surrounded by an aureole of golden rays. This unusual representation of the adoration of Jesus is probably based on one of the visions of Saint Bridget of Sweden. In the background, van der Goes painted scenes related to the main subject: on the left panel, Joseph and Mary on the road to Bethlehem; on the central panel (to the right), the shepherds visited by the angel; on the right panel, the Three Magi on the road to Bethlehem. The still life in the foreground, with the two vases of flowers and the sheaf of wheat (which recalls Bethlehem, "the house of bread"), probably alludes to the Eucharist and the Passion. The wheat refers to the Last Supper, where Christ broke the bread. The orange lilies symbolize the Passion and the white irises purity, while the purple irises and the columbine stalks represent the seven sorrows of the Virgin. Thus, this scene of the birth of Jesus prefigures the Salvation by his death. When the work arrived in Florence in 1483, it was installed in the Portinari family chapel where it was deeply admired by the Italian artists who saw it, many of whom sought to emulate it. A good example is the Adoration of the Shepherds (1485) which Domenico Ghirlandaio painted in the Sassetti Chapel in the church of Santa Trinita in Florence. However, the naturalistic depiction of the shepherds is already present in Andrea Mantegna's Adoration of the Shepherds (Metropolitan Museum, New York), which dates from around 1450. Sources

The Portinari Altar - Central panel

Creator: Goes, Hugo van der Creation Year: 1476-1478 CE Medium: wood Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands In the central panel, Mary and Joseph have finally come to rest under a half ruined lean-to. This makeshift shelter is propped up against the walls of a heavy stone building which seems to serve as a stable. They are surrounded by angels who are lost in meditation and adoration of the Child. The scene is surprising for the bare empty space in which the newborn Infant Jesus is lying, as if the painter wanted to isolate Him from the crowd of onlookers who have rushed to witness this extraordinary event. At the front of this space are a vase and a glass containing orange lilies, the symbol of the Passion, three irises, Van der Goes's favourite flower, and a few columbine stalks, the emblem of melancholy and a common symbol of the Virgin's pains. A sheaf of corn lies flat on the ground behind these flowers, alluding to the Incarnation and the Eucharist.

Fall of Man, Adam and Eve

Creator: Hugo van der Goes Creation Year: c. 1470 Medium: panel This is the left panel of a diptych. The right panel shows the Lamentation. Perhaps Van der Goes intended to show two important moments in Christianity side by side. On the left the Fall of Man, when mankind appearantly was doomed to suffer and dwell on earth for ever. On the right the Death on the Cross, the moment salvation came within reach. In the foreground the snake succeeds in letting Eve eat from the forbidden fruit. Following the style of Van Eyck, Van der Goes paid much attention to detail. Every leaf on the trees in the parklike landscape appears to be painted individually.

The Betrayal of Christ

Creator: Master IAM of Zwolle Creation Year: 1485 CE Medium: engraving Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Print Country: Netherlands

The Betrayal of Christ, detail

Creator: Master IAM of Zwolle Creation Year: 1485 CE Medium: engraving Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Print Country: Netherlands

Hours of Mary of Burgundy

Creator: Master of Mary of Burgundy Creation Year: c. 1475 Medium: manuscript

Hours of Mary of Burgundy 146v, 147r-1

Creator: Master of Mary of Burgundy Creation Year: c. 1475 Medium: manuscript

Mary of Burgundy in Devotion from the HOurse of Mary of Burgundy

Creator: Master of Mary of Burgundy Creation Year: c. 1480 Medium: manuscript illumination This specific image shows Mary in her own private chamber attending to her private devotion. In her lap appears a book whose opening letter "O" clearly identifies it as a Book of Hours since two of the most popular prayers to the Virgin begin with the letter "O": Obsecro te and O intemerata. The gold edges and cloth used to protect the book from direct hand contact suggests the preciousness of the book as an object. A fourteenth century poem by Eustache Deschamps is useful to compare to the Mary of Burgundy image: An Hours of the Virgin must be mine As it should belong to a woman Coming from noble peerage Which are of subtle work Of gold and of blue, rich and elegant Well ordered and well appointed, Well covered with fine, gold cloth; And when it will be open, Two clasps of gold which will close it That anyone who will see it Can say and assess by it all That one could not carry one more beautiful. A Book of Hours was not just a symbol of religious piety, but was also a clear indication of status. Notice how in the syntax of Deschamps' poem the patron's noble status (noble paraige) is paralleled to the work's fine craftsmanship (soutil ouvraige). The poem places a heavy emphasis on the richness and elegance of the book: "Of gold and of blue, rich and elegant." "Richness" was a very important attribute in this court culture of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is not just a coincidence that one of the major monuments of this first part of this course is the Très riches heures of John of Berry. We need to distinguish our conception of "richness" from this culture's conception. We judge richness in our culture on the basis of monetary wealth, but as an examination of the accounts of noble households reveals, richness was not based during this period on the basis of accumulation of money. Frequently aristocratic households depended on loans from bourgeois merchants and bankers to subsidize their lifestyles. Rather this court culture can be characterized as a display culture which means that power and status is reflected in the material display of possessions. Great attention was paid in aristocratic households to the "magnificence" of the dress of its members. Members of a court were regularly compensated by a salary and provided with clothing appropriate to their status in the court. We should understand how the richness of the decoration of a book like the Hours of Mary of Burgundy was a direct reflection of the power and the status of the owner. This miniature of Mary of Burgundy reflects well one of the major visual aspects of art of this period. Traditional studies of the art of the Northern Renaissance place a major emphasis on this period's break from the more abstract styles of the earlier Middle Ages to the increasing emphasis on naturalism. Clearly the artist of this miniature has learned the techniques for rendering space and light in art. The window in the miniature appears to present us with a perfect visual example of the Renaissance conception of a painting as a window onto a world. The light in the miniature not only articulates the solidity of the figures but also renders their physical properties. The artist differentiates the way light reflects off of or is absorbed by different materials. Note details like the transparency of the glass.

St Ambrose from the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves

Creator: Master of the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves Creation Year: 1434-40 Medium: manuscript illustration

St Bartholomew from the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves

Creator: Master of the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves Creation Year: 1434-40 Medium: manuscript illustration The Hours of Catherine of Cleves (Morgan Library and Museum, now divided in two parts, M. 917 and M. 945, the latter sometimes called the Guennol Hours or, less commonly, the Arenberg Hours) is an ornately illuminated manuscript in the Gothic art style, produced in about 1440 by the anonymous Dutch artist known as the Master of Catherine of Cleves. It is one of the most lavishly illuminated manuscripts to survive from the 15th century and has been described as one of the masterpieces of Northern European illumination.[1][2] This book of hours contains the usual offices, prayers and litanies in Latin, along with supplemental texts, decorated with 157 colorful and gilded illuminations. Today, both parts of the manuscript that forms this book are housed at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City, U.S.A. [1][2][3]

Hellmouth from the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves

Creator: Master of the Hours of Catherine of Cleves Creation Year: 1434-40 Medium: manuscript illustration

print of young woman

Creator: Master of the Playing Cards Creation Year: 1440 Medium: engraving

Adoration

Creator: Master of the Virgo inter Virgines Creation Year: c. 1490 Medium: color woodblock print in book Possibly active in Delft and Gouda as well as Amsterdam, the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines is the most independent of Hugo van der Goes's North Netherlandish followers. While he is keenly aware of the earlier artist's psychological insights, Hugo's North Netherlandish disciple adds his own austerity and pessimism.

Crucifixion

Creator: Master of the Virgo inter Virgines Creation Year: c.1490 Medium: panel This Master of the Virgo inter Virgines, whose names derives from a painting now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, had one of the three most active workshops in Holland at the end of the fifteenth century. The artist certainly possessed an exceptional expressive talent, which is plainly revealed by the intense dramatic force of the scene represented, by the serpentine and tormented line with which the figures are delineated, by the agitated poses and by the agonizing figure of the tortured Christ. Even the range of colours is emotionally charged, the reds, blacks and whites a deliberate clashing accompaniment to the awesome tragedy of Christ's death. Figures like the swooning Virgin who has collapsed upon herself, and Mary Magdalen, have nothing rationally calculated about them; they serve rather to emphasize a dramatic intensity and almost savage, inhuman anguish, reflecting an anticonventional and certainly highly individual temperament.

Mystic Marriage of S Catherine, central panel of the S John altarpiece

Creator: Memling, Hans Creation Year: 1479 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands

Altarpiece of S John the Baptist and S John the Evangelist

Creator: Memling, Hans Creation Year: 1479 CE Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands The symbolic gesture whereby Jesus places a wedding ring on the finger of St Catherine of Alexandria caused this altarpiece to be identified for many years as the Mystic marriage of St Catherine. Nevertheless, it is clearly dedicated to the Virgin and the two St Johns. Together with the Gdansk Last Jjudgment and the Lübeck Passion, this is one of the three biggest triptychs that Memling ever painted. The three altarpieces are also distributed evenly throughout his career, and hence serve as crucial milestones in the development of his oeuvre. The St John altarpiece is dated 1479, and is thus located precisely half-way between the Gdansk (1467) and Lübeck (1491) triptychs. The central panel focuses upon a Sacra Conversazione, a gathering of saints around the Virgin. However, the narrow vertical openings between the columns reveal a continuous landscape with ruins and buildings in which small episodes from the lives of the two male saints are enacted. The two wings each depict episodes from the lives of the standing figures of the two St Johns on either side of the Virgin. The left wing features the Beheading of St John the Baptist and the right wing St John the Evangelist on the Island of Patmos. In addition to these realistic portrayals, the carved groups on the two capitals above each saint also depict key moments from their lives. The composition of the triptych as a whole is not only ingenious in narrative terms, with the different components interlocking spatially and thematically; it is also new in many respects as far as the portrayal of the Virgin Mary in heaven and the Apocalypse are concerned. The iconographical forebears of such a grouping of saints sitting and standing around an enthroned Virgin are few and far between. The only extant examples are, in fact, the Virgo inter Virgines from the circle of the Master of Flémalle in Washington and a similar composition, this time set in a room, by Rogier van der Weyden, several fragments of which have survive. They are not, however, comparable in formal terms. This clear monumental composition, with two symmetrical standing male saints and two sitting female saints, forming a tetramorph around the Virgin, must have seemed very new. As is the case with the architecture, Memling appears to have developed here upon Jan van Eyck's Virgin with Canon van der Paele. The Apocalypse is new too. There is no sign of any other representation prior to Memling in which the Book of Revelation is played out before St John's eyes in its entirety in a single, undivided painting. Only in the Beheading of StJohn the Baptist did Memling prefer to paraphrase a Van der Weyden composition (St John altarpiece, Berlin, Staatliche Museen). However, the stylised terseness and enclosed character of the latter give way here to dramatic action in the open air, with a high degree of realism. In view of the historical circumstances and iconography, there can be no doubt whatsoever that this triptych was painted for the High Altar of the chapel of St John's Hospital. An old inscription on the bottom member of the frame gives the date 1479 and the name of the artist Johannes Memling. With the exception of the Floreins triptych in the same hospital, this is the only work by Memling to be authenticated by an original (in this case subsequently overpainted) inscription. The donors were also identified. Jacob de Ceuninc was initially recorded as a monk at the hospital in 1469-70, and later as bursar from 1488 until his death in 1490. Antheunis Seghers was first mentioned in 1455-56 and appears to have been master from 1461 to 1465, bursar from 1466 to 1468, and then master again from 1469 until his death in 1475. Agnes Casembrood was first recorded in 1445-46, and subsequently appears as prioress from 1459 to 1463, and again from 1469 until her death in 1489. Clara van Hulsen makes her initial appearance in the records in 1427-1428, and died in 1479. Given that these are evidently intended as portraits, the altarpiece must have been ordered before the death of Antheunis Seghers in 1475, which means that its production may logically be linked with the expansion of the chapel's apse in 1473- 74 though we lack details of Jacob de Ceuninc and Clara van Hulsen in those years. The altarpiece is, of course, dedicated to the patron saints of St John's Hospital. The central portrayal of the Virgin might relate to the hospital chapel's long-standing and close links with the chapter of the almost adjacent Church of Our Lady. The two female saints, Catherine and Barbara, were frequently invoked in adversity. Their presence in the hospital context has frequently been explained in terms of their symbolising respectively the contemplative and active life of the hospital's monastic community.

Madonna and Child with Angels

Creator: Memling, Hans Creation Year: 1485 CE Medium: panel Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands In the tradition of his Flemish predecessors, Memling's painting contains a wealth of religious meaning; it is filled with symbols which explain the importance of Christ's mission on earth. Jesus reaches out for an apple, emblem of Original Sin; his attitude of acceptance foreshadows his future sacrifice on the cross. The angel who offers the fruit of redemption is in fact dressed in a dalmatic, the liturgical vestment worn by a deacon during the solemn High Mass. Around the arch is a carved vine of grapes referring to the wine of the eucharistic rite. On the crystal and porphyry columns stand David, as an ancestor of Christ, and Isaiah, one of the prophets who foretold the Virgin Birth. Memling adhered closely to the northern tradition in art; the format and details of the enthroned Madonna theme recall Jan van Eyck. It is believed that Memling worked in the studio of Rogier van der Weyden at Brussels before settling in Bruges; here, he adopted Rogier's angular figural types clothed in heavy, crisp drapery, but transformed the older artist's dramatic intensity into a calm and graceful elegance. The framing archway was a device used by a number of Flemish painters including Rogier. While combining various influences, Hans Memling's own tender and pious sentiment made him the most popular artist of his day in Bruges.

Madonna and Child/The Donor

Creator: Memling, Hans Creation Year: 1487 CE Medium: Oil on panel Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th century Worktype: Painting Country: Belgium This is a rare and beautiful example of an intact 15th-century diptych, known to retain its original frames and hinges. It is also notable that it reveals a new concept in the devotional portrait diptych: Hans Memling depicts the figures in a spatially coherent room, instead of showing them against the dark, featureless background favored by Rogier van der Weyden, who invented the prototype, as can be seen in the Virgin and Child with Philippe de Croÿ. Diptychs that paired the Virgin and Child with the portrait of a donor have survived in relatively large numbers. The Virgin Mary was immensely popular in the Renaissance as a heavenly intercessor with God the Father, and the Christian faithful directed their prayers to her. The diptych format was ideal for enhancing the relationship between the secular realm of the donor and the sacred personage who was the object of his devotion. The donor on the right panel, Maarten van Nieuwenhove of Bruges, was born November 11, 1463. He belonged to a patrician family whose members held prominent positions both in the government of Bruges and in the Burgundian court. About five years after this portrait was painted, Maarten became a councilor, then later the captain of the civic guard, and finally the mayor of Bruges (in 1498). He died on August 16, 1500, at the age of 36. Painted not just an object of private religious devotion but also to advance Van Nieuwenhove's career, the diptych includes numerous references to the donor's eminent family and shows the figures richly attired and situated in an elegant interior.

portrait of a Carthusian Monk

Creator: Petrus Christus Creation Year: 1446 Medium: oil on panel Country: Flanders Portrait of a Carthusian depicts a three-quarter portrait of anonymous Carthusian monk captured in mid-turn, gazing directly at the viewer. Because the monk's body is turned to his left, he must look over his right shoulder to gaze at the viewer, creating a somewhat cumbersome diagonal pose. Petrus Christus balances this out by shifting the axis of the monk's face to the right, placing him just off center.[1] By further modeling the monk's right shoulder more than his left shoulder, Christus draws one side of the body closer to the viewer, adding more depth to the work.[1] The proportions of the monk's face have also been exaggerated; the nose and eyes having been purposefully elongated. The overall effect is something of an exaggerated silhouette, a compositional technique not often found in Early Netherlandish Painting.[2] Space and lighting The lighting scheme employed by Petrus Christus is also noteworthy. The Monk is bathed in intense light, setting his figure dramatically against the space that he occupies. While this strong, raking light is typical of contemporaries like Jan van Eyck, Christus' addition of a second, opposing lighting source behind the monk marks this portrait as distinctive.[1] The light on the left seems to be a reflection from within the room, yet the light bathing the monk seems to be coming from an external source, perhaps an unseen window. The result is that light comes from both in and outside the pictorial space, with the monk (particularly along the hood of his cloak) being the meeting point of the two.[1] The monk is therefore framed by two lighting structure, allowing Christus to employ a much fuller and richer spectrum of colors and shading than a single-source lighting structure would. This complex lighting scheme is the reason Portrait of a Carthusian appears fully 3-dimensional and realistic.

Madonna of the Dry Tree

Creator: Petrus Christus Creation Year: 1462 Medium: panel Country: Flanders Notes: Christus and his wife were members of the confraternity of Our Lady of the Dry Tree. Petrus Christus was a 15th-century Flemish painter associated with the city of Bruges. His style relates to that of Jan van Eyck, from whom he derived his models while simplifying Van Eyck's compositional structures. His work also reveals a knowledge of Rogier van der Weyden in the organisation of the subjects and the expressivity of the figures. The subject of The Virgin of the dry Tree, which was first attributed to Christus by Grete Ring in 1919, is an uncommon one. It relates to the Confraternity of Our Lady of the dry Tree, to which the artist and his wife belonged. It is likely that a member of this confraternity would have commissioned the painting for the purpose of private devotion, or perhaps it was intended for the artist himself. In this small panel the painter symbolically depicts the message of Redemption through the reference to the dry tree in the Book of Ezekiel and hence to the notion of Mary as the New Eve. The tree has been interpreted as the Tree of Knowledge, which withered following the Original Sin then flowered again with the conception of Christ. The Infant Christ is shown as the Saviour of Mankind, holding the orb crowned with the cross. This painting proved particularly important for historians as well as for Petrus himself, because it commemorates his entry into a religious confraternity called the Confraternity of Our Lady of the Dry Tree, a club of which he and his wife were members between 1458-1463. Religious confraternities abounded throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. They were essentially societies of friends who engaged in charitable and social activities together (much like the Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club or Lions Club today). Occasionally the societies were rather more secret, and would engage in Masonic-style rituals. But in the main, members would pool resources to build orphanages or hospitals for the poor, or hold feasts in honor of patron saints. The imagery in this painting is unique as far as art historians are aware, making it particularly interesting. It was copied in later works, such as the seal of the Municipal Archive in Bruges and the seal of the Royal Library of Albert I in Brussels. Because of its unique nature, it is safe to assume that the imagery comes from the rituals or specific belief-sets of the Confraternity of Our Lady of the Dry Tree, rather than any published source in literature, Biblical apocrypha, or mythology. The confraternity is first mentioned in a 1396 document, and counted among its notable members the Dukes of Burgundy themselves, as well as most of the movers and shakers of Bruges high society. No one knows the true story of the foundation of the confraternity (which must have been established on or before 1396), and therefore historians are uncertain as to how this painting should be interpreted. In the 17th century there was a legend that the confraternity had been founded by Duke Philip the Good. The story goes that the Virgin and Child appeared to Philip in the trunk of an old, dead tree just before a critical battle against the French. Philip prayed for victory before this miraculous arboreal image. After he won the battle, he established the confraternity in thanks for the victory. A nice story, but it if we know that the confraternity was in place in 1396, then something doesn't jive, as Philip the Good was born in 1396. However, it's entirely possible that this 17th century legend took the confraternity's story of origin and conflated it with Duke Philip, its most famous member. This tiny painting presents the message of the Redemption in a unique manner that appears nowhere else in known art history. The iconography is inspired by the Book of Ezekiel, wherein the Prophet Ezekiel says, "I the Lord have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish." Theologians interpret this as a reference to Original Sin, with Mary replacing Eve as the "mother of the world." Eve, in the Garden of Eden, was once the "green tree," flowering and flourishing. But God made her wither and instead granted favor to the dry tree (Mary as a childless woman), allowing her to bring forth fruit from her womb. The parallel analogy is that the Tree of Knowledge is the dry tree, which died after Original Sin and the expulsion from Eden, but which would flower once more with the virginal conception of Christ. A book by Guillaume de Deguileville, written in 1330, conveys this concept of the green and dry trees, and some feel that de Deguileville was a member of the confraternity, or that his writings inspired the beliefs of the members. Christ holds a crowned globe, showing himself to be the redeemer and spiritual leader of the world. The dry branches of the tree are cleverly bent and interlaced so as to form a crown that recalls the crown of thorns. Fifteen gilded letter "A"s hang from various branches of the dead tree: the "A" is the first letter of "Ave Maria," and fifteen is the number of the Mysteries of the Rosary, the prayer in which rosary beads are used as a meditative tool to pray to Mary. This complex, intricate, wholly unique painting still holds many secrets about this powerful confraternity and the specifics of its belief system. There is pleasure in the immersion into a sense of wonder and mystery. This painting holds hidden secrets, lost to historians. It is a puzzle which, if decoded, could shed light on a secret society that boasted some of the leading artists and rulers of Europe among its members. But for now, it remains an unsolved puzzle.

Salting Madonna/Salting Madonna, landscape detail

Creator: Robert Campin, Master of Flemalle Creation Year: c. 1430 Medium: panel Period: Northern Renaissance Worktype: painting on panel Country: The Netherlands/ Flanders The "Virgin and Child before a Firescreen" also known as the "Salting Madonna," (named after it's last private owner, George Salting) is a view of the Virgin set within a typical Netherlandish household complete with a detailed Flemish vista through the open window. This is a domestic scene, the Madonna is a well fed mother who is about to feed her child. She sits on a bench that is also representative of a throne. The plated firescreen behind the Virgin's head provides a halo, this and the chalice close to her left arm are reminders of the religious subject of the painting.

Crucifixion

Creator: Rogier van der Weyden Creation Year: 1454-64 Medium: panel The diptych's figures are almost two-thirds life size. The right panel depicts a deliberately unnaturalistic Crucifixion scene. Christ's blood is visible on his hands, feet and brow, and trickles down from the wound in his side. The impression of blood is amplified by the brilliant red cloth of honor draped behind him. The body hangs heavily from the arms, forming a Y-shaped figure against the T-shape of the cross and the rectangle of the cloth. The skull and bone at the foot of the Cross refer to Adam, the first man created by God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.[9] Christ's loincloth flutters in the wind, indicating the moment of death.[13] Detail showing the skull and bone at the base of the cross. The left panel shows a swooning Virgin Mary supported by Saint John the Evangelist. Both are dressed in pale folded robes, and again presented before a draped red cloth of honor (which, given the creases, appears to have been recently unfolded). The high stone wall gives the effect of pushing the figures into the foreground. The dark sky conforms with scripture: (Matthew 27:45: "Now from the sixth hour [noon] there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour [3:00 pm]." King James Bible, Cambridge edition.) The dark sky, stark wall, cool light and bare ground contribute to the painting's austerity. In his first masterpiece, The Descent from the Cross (c. 1435-40), van der Weyden likened the Virgin Mary's suffering during the Crucifixion to that of Christ by having her collapse in a pose that mirrored that of his body being removed from the Cross.[14] In the Philadelphia painting, the faces of the pair mirror each other, as do their positions at the center of the red cloths. The diptych was executed late in the artist's life, and is unique among paintings of the early Northern Renaissance in its utilization of a flat unnaturalistic background to stage figures which are yet, typically highly detailed.[15] Nonetheless, the contrast of vivid primary reds and whites serves to achieve an emotional effect typical of van der Weyden's best work.

Saint John the Baptist Altarpiece

Creator: Rogier van der Weyden Creation Year: c.1440s Medium: panel he sequence of panels, from left to right, corresponds to the sequence of events. The baptism of Christ, the most important action performed by John the Baptist, comes in the central panel between his naming (left) and his execution (right). Christ is thus at the exact center of the entire altarpiece. The archivolt reliefs narrate events connected with each of the main scenes below them, and the statues in the wall niches represent the Twelve Apostles. Van der Weyden constructed the portal to look like that of a real church. The grisaille paintings portray archivolt figures as well as saints in scenes which parallel the main motifs. The church façade is therefore not only a holy place, but also a pictorial element that sets the event firmly in a biblical context. At the same time, the spiritual world becomes accessible to the secular world: scenes appear from everyday life and the view gives on to a vista that includes a landscape and a town in the distance. It is here that van der Weyden's concept of art meets van Eyck's. The sacred fuses with the everyday and it is towards the latter that the holy events are oriented. The differences between the two artists cannot of course be ignored: while van Eyck's treatment of the contact between the sacred and the secular was free and light, van der Weyden insisted on a strict separation. The St John Altarpiece represents a new version of the Miraflores Altarpiece (Staatliche Museen, Berlin) in its pictorial construction. As in the Miraflores Altarpiece, three portals are decorated with relief and sculptural ornamentation, complementing the narrative content. Interestingly, however, parts of the real frame no longer run three-dimensionally across the panels, enhancing the plasticity of the painted architecture; instead, the impression is of a relatively shallow façade set slightly back. The main figures are on the same level as the portals, while in the Miraflores Altarpiece the space farther back is also opened up. The shallow zone of the foreground is set off by the strong effects of depth in the side panels, where the rooms are almost like tunnels. This makes the narrative backgrounds of the left and right panels subordinate. The foreground and background areas are entirely separate in perspective too: as in the Miraflores Altarpiece, we have a full frontal view of the individual portals with the main figures at the front of them, so that the viewer might be standing directly in front of each panel. The backgrounds, on the other hand, are seen as if from a single viewpoint in front of the central panel, with the areas at the sides converging toward the middle and emphasizing the significance of the central event.

Last Judgment Altarpiece (interior)

Creator: Rogier van der Weyden Creation Year: c.1445-48 Medium: panel In this impressive altarpiece, Rogier van der Weyden produced an innovative representation of a common theme, Christ's Last Judgment of humankind. Commissioned by Chancellor Nicolas Rolin for the Hôtel-Dieu (hospital) he had established in Beaune, this polyptych had various functions. In addition to demonstrating the piety and generosity of Rolin, who is depicted along with his wife kneeling in prayer on the cover, the altarpiece was also meant to aid in patient treatment. General beliefs of the time attributed horrific physical and mental maladies to God's displeasure; thus, in an effort to overcome what they saw as divine punishment, the sick, and those wishing to avoid illness, prayed to patron saints as part of their treatment. Saint Sebastian and Saint Anthony, both seen as intercessors for curing or warding off the plague, are painted on the exterior cover. This ambitious work was intended to rival Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece in both scale and splendor, an aim that is made clear by Rogier's choice to adopt the composition and program of that altarpiece's cover. However, in the interior, Rogier created a unique depiction of the Last Judgment, a theme commonly treated in art of the time. Scenes, like this one, depicting an apocalyptic vision of Judgment Day were often intended to warn against sin by illustrating the potential fate of those who turned away from the Christian Church. Rogier did include some traditional Gothic compositional elements: Christ as Judge seated on a rainbow surrounded by angels bearing instruments of the passion, St. Michael weighing the souls of men, the intercessors Mary and John the Baptist flanked by the apostles and various saints, and the nude figures of resurrected humankind. However, by eliminating certain elements, such as the battle between angels and demons for the souls of the resurrected as well as the horrific torments executed upon the wicked by devilish creatures in hell, Rogier provides a distinctive, and rather bleak, interpretation of this monumental event. The resurrected men and women are led to their salvation or damnation according to their own consciences, and in Rogier's depiction, the majority are driven toward the flaming pit of hell. Although Christ judges with justice and mercy, as signaled by the sword and lily emerging from his face, very few of the resurrected enter paradise, symbolized by the elegant Gothic cathedral in the far left panel. Throughout his career, Rogier excelled in depicting the inner feelings and emotions of people and here he expresses the internal struggles of the soul. For those dying or solely afflicted with physical ailments, the Last Judgment was a reminder of the larger issues beyond this mortal life and the possibility of eternal joy and peace.

Last Judgement Altarpiece , detail of the entrance of the damned into hell

Creator: Rogier van der Weyden Creation Year: ca. 1443-1451 CE Medium: oil paint on panel Period: Northern Renaissance Worktype: Painting The dead rise around Micheal's feet. Some are walking towards heaven, others towards hell. Heaven is represented by a gate leading to a cathedral illuminated with shining light. The saved walk calmly towards it clasping their hands in prayer, as an angel stands by the gate. Hell is depicted as a place of fiery gloom into which the damned tumble screaming and crying. The souls held in the scales are naked, with the blessed looking upwards towards Christ, the banished looking downwards. They are tilted in the same direction as Christ's hands, with the one raised and one lowered, separating the condemned from the saved.[22] Reinforcing this, inscriptions around the groupings read either "VIRTUTES" (Virtues) and "PECCATA" (sins). Lorne Campbell notes that the inner panels evidence a very pessimistic view of humanity, with the damned far outnumbering the saved,[23] especially compared to Lochner's Cologne panel, where the saved crowd the entrance to heaven. The Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, the twelve Apostles and an assortment of Kings, popes and others are positioned at either side of Michael. The figures are mostly unidentified, but seem to include a king and a pope, as well as a monk and three women. Both dead risen from their graves are tiny in scale compared to Christ and the saints. Unusually for Last Judgement paintings until van der Weyden, the damned are not tormented by beasts and monsters. They scurry to their fate, with heads mostly bowed, but seem troubled only by the anguish of their situation; according to Lane the lost descend into hell as those whose "only demons are the torments of the mind".

Da Costa manuscript

Creator: Simon Bening The Da Costa Hours is one of the first manuscripts to have been created by Simon Bening. His first dated work, the Imhof book of hours, is from 1511; our book of hours appeared in 1515 - and it is one of the first masterpieces to have been created for a Spanish customer. For the coat of arms which was painted over on folio 1v has been ascribed to a member of the Sá family from Portugal. The emblem which has been painted over it, however, refers to the man after whom this particular book of hours has come to be named: Don Alvaro da Costa, armourer and treasurer to Manuel I, the King of Portugal who ruled from 1495 to 1521 and founded the Portuguese colonial empire. According to a history of the Da Costa family, in 1514 the manuscript was given as a present by Pope Leo X to King Manuel I who subsequently passed it on to Don Alvaro. The codex then remained in the possession of the Da Costa family for four centuries. In 1882 the manuscript was put on display in Lisbon by João Afonso Da Costa de Sousa Macedo e Albuquerque (1815-1890). After he died the book of hours was inherited by his younger brother Luiz Antonio da Sousa Macedo e Albuquerque. It is at this point that we lose trace of our manuscript for a while, only for it to reappear in 1905. It is now owned by the London-based antiquary Bernard Quaritch. In the same year he sells the manuscript on to a collector, George C. Thomas from Philadelphia. His successors go on to sell the codex to John Pierpont Morgan in 1910.

Tomb of Philip the Bold, Tomb Weepers

Creator: Sluter, Claus Creation Year: 1390-1406 CE Medium: alabaster Culture: Netherlandish Period: 14th Century Worktype: Sculpture Country: Netherlands

Tomb of Philip the Bold

Creator: Sluter, Claus Creation Year: 1390-1406 CE Medium: alabaster Culture: Netherlandish Period: 14th Century Worktype: Sculpture Country: Netherlands The tomb of Philip the Bold, made for the choir of the Chartreuse de Champmol is an early sepulchre with pleurents or mourners. This stressed the living grieving for the deceased duke, not his physical transience. Philip's effigy, modelled after old prints, dates to 1825 since the original was smashed during the French Revolution in 1793. Only his hands survived. Accompanied by a lion at his feet and two angels holding his helmet, the resplendently dressed duke lies on a large black marble slab quarried near Namur. Jean de Marville's tomb design includes elaborate Gothic architectural decoration, with alternating triangular and rectangular bays, around the base. Claus Sluter, who succeeded as court sculptor in 1389, and his assistants carved forty-one statuettes. Arranged in groups of one or two figures, these form a mourning procession, which begins with a choir boy carrying an aspergillum, or holy water receptacle, at the head of the tomb and continues counter-clockwise around the base. The entourage mimics an actual mourning procession performed after a noble's death. Sluter's extant statuettes vary in identity, pose and expression. Their ranks include a bishop, clerics, Carthusian monks, nobles, courtiers, weepers, and finally, a man apparently dressed as a doctor of theology. No two men are alike. To make these mourners more visible, de Marville and Sluter raised the tomb on an elevated black platform.

S Agnes

Creator: Wesel, Adriaen van Creation Year: c. 1480 CE Culture: Dutch Period: 15th Century CE Worktype: Sculpture Country: Netherlands Saint Agnes, who was put to death by the Romans for her Christian faith and thereafter worshipped as a martyr, was depicted by Adriaen van Wesel as a graceful, medieval noblewoman. The lamb at her feet alludes to her having appeared after her death, wearing a golden robe, with a white lamb (agnus, the Latin for lamb) at her side.

S Luke Drawing the Virgin

Creator: Weyden , Rogier van der Creation Year: 1435-1440 CE Medium: Oil on panel Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th century Worktype: Painting Country: Belgium This work shares the solidity and monumentality of its figures with the Deposition (Prado, Madrid), but differs from it in a striking atmospheric effect of chiaroscuro, a quality typical of the art of Jan van Eyck. In fact Rogier is referring directly in his St Luke Madonna to a painting by Jan van Eyck, the Madonna commissioned around 1435 by the Burgundian chancellor Nicolas Rolin and consequently known as the Rolin Madonna (Louvre, Paris). As well as the ideas about the atmospheric use of light and shade that Rogier derived from this picture, he also adopted its overall construction and many motifs from Jan van Eyck's painting, including the colours of the garments worn by the main figures. They are arranged in the picture as in the van Eyck model, except that the Virgin and her companion have changed sides. These similarities of colour and light show that Rogier must have seen the original version of the Rolin Madonna, and he can have done so only in Jan van Eyck's studio in Bruges before Chancellor Rolin collected the picture, which was for his private enjoyment only and so was not accessible to the public thereafter. The meeting in Bruges between the two men who were by now the greatest and most famous painters north of the Alps - perhaps they were already acquainted - cannot have taken place very long after 1435, and may well have been accompanied by a lively exchange of ideas. At any rate, Rogier as town painter of Brussels not only profited by his knowledge of the Rolin Madonna, he also obviously came away from Jan van Eyck with new ideas and sketches of other motifs, soon to be used in his own workshop. In spite of the inspiration Rogier had gained from Jan van Eyck, his St Luke Madonna is an entirely independent depiction of the subject, and was to establish a new tradition. In a departure from earlier paintings of the subject, Rogier's saint is not himself painting the Mother of God but recording the silverpoint drawing. This corresponds to the practice of contemporary portraiture, and also emphasizes the spiritual significance of the picture more than the long, craftsmanlike activity involved in painting itself. By comparison with other works by Rogier, the extremely picturesque qualities of the chiaroscuro in the St Luke Madonna are particularly marked. Perhaps the artist, impressed by this effect in the pictures of Jan van Eyck, used it here because the painting not only honoured the saint but also stood for the painter's craft. In addition, Rogier was demonstrating another modern artistic achievement, and thus - whether in homage or in a spirit of rivalry - was referring explicitly to the other famous Flemish painter of his time. On the whole, however, he interpreted his model very much in his own way: where Jan's figures are embedded in a world of light and shade, Rogier's figures clearly claim more attention than the rest of the picture. The landscape in the Rolin Madonna seems to stretch backward for ever, suggesting in its countless details the whole teeming fullness of the world. In Rogier's picture it goes no further than its immediately visible part, and is cut off by architectural features at the sides; similarly the inner room, open to the elements in Jan's painting, has acquired a ceiling in Rogier's painting. The small town in the background is animated by little figures (including a man urinating outside the town walls) but it is possible to count them all - what is a whole universe in Jan's painting here becomes a comparatively flat background for the figures, one that can be completely surveyed. In those figures themselves, however, Rogier shows himself far superior to Jan van Eyck as an innovator. His Virgin is the quintessence of tender maternal love, simultaneously humble and proud; she is presented to the observer in such a way that (unlike Jan's Madonna) she is effective even without the context of the picture, and may be seen as typical of representations of the Virgin by herself. Instead of the masses of folds in Jan's painting, her garment in Rogier's version of the scene forms attractive calligraphic patterns. St Luke is not kneeling motionless before her, absorbed in his work, but is approaching gently like the angel of the Annunciation. Although he is seen in the act of kneeling, it does not jar on the viewer that he could hardly execute a portrait sketch in that attitude, since his activity is not emphasized for its own sake. Instead, his mobile, sensitive hands express both veneration of the Virgin and the intellectual aspect of portraiture. The saint is deliberately captured in a state between movement and repose, which could be the reason why, by comparison with those in the Rolin Madonna, the figures have changed sides: the direction of the saint's movement runs counter to the usual way of "reading" a picture (from left to right) and is thus inhibited - if St Luke were seen approaching from the left his movement would appear too emphatic.

The Visitation

Creator: Weyden , Rogier van der Culture: Netherlandish Period: 15th century Worktype: Painting Country: Belgium This small Visitation, probably intended as a single panel, is related to the Miraflores Altarpiece, not in subject but in style. Comparatively speaking, it is a narrative picture, showing a definite event in its appropriate surroundings. Shortly after the Annunciation, Mary visits her cousin Elisabeth, who despite her advanced age has miraculously become pregnant, and has been carrying the future John the Baptist for six months. The picture illustrates the circumstances of the meeting described in St. Luke's Gospel much more clearly than many other earlier depictions. For example, the landscape divided up by paths behind the Virgin Mary, from which she seems to be approaching small figures of people riding and walking indicate that it is passable - show that she has traveled a long way to visit her cousin. Elisabeth lives in hilly country, represented by the hill with the complex of fortress-like buildings outside which her husband Zacharias is playing with a dog. The open courtyard gateway, and even more so the path dynamically winding downward, show that the pregnant older woman has hurried respectfully to meet the young girl as Mary takes the last few steps. Each of them acknowledges the miracle of pregnancy and is laying a hand on the other's belly, while Elisabeth's outstretched arm and pale hand, shown against Mary's dark blue dress, leave us in no doubt which is the more important child. The gestures, at once tender and eloquent, are typical of Rogier's expressive style. The picture is also closely related to the version of the same subject on the right wing of the Annunciation Triptych (Galleria Sabauda, Turin) which is of the same width but considerably taller and thus makes a much narrower composition. The smaller version therefore appears less dramatic by comparison; Elisabeth's house does not tower over her so much. It is possible that an older design by Rogier was the model for both painting. These hands and facial types, the figures, and such features as the modeling of the forms resemble those of the Miraflores Altarpiece. Dendrochronology provides a useful lead to the date of the Visitation, for the wooden panel used comes from the same piece of timber as a part of the panels of the picture known as the Abegg Triptych (Riggisberg near Berne), which was painted in Rogier's workshop and can be dated to around 1445.

Descent from the Cross (Deposition from the Cross)

Creator: Weyden, Rogier van der Creation Year: 1435 CE Medium: wood Culture: Flemish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands, It is a triptych, has a ladder where the center figure is surrounded by 8 others and being hoisted down on a white cloth. In their accounts of the descent of Christ's body from the Cross, the evangelists relate the story only in connection with the Entombment of Christ. According to the canonical gospels, Joseph of Arimathea took Christ's body and prepared it for burial. John (19:38-42) adds one assistant, Nicodemus. None of these accounts mention Mary. During the Middle Ages, the narrative of the Passion became more elaborate, and more attention was paid to the role of Christ's mother. One example is the anonymous 14th-century text, Meditationes de Vita Christi, perhaps by Ludolph of Saxony. Barbara Lane suggests this passage from the Vita Christi might lie behind many paintings of the Deposition,[4] including Rogier's: "Then the lady reverently receives the hanging right hand and places it against her cheek gazes upon it, and kisses it with heavy tears and sorrowful sighs." Detail: Mary of Clopas, Saint John the Evangelist and Mary Salome (according to Campbell) In her history of the veneration of the Virgin Mary, Miri Rubin writes that in the early 15th-century artists began to depict the "Swoon of the Virgin" or Mary swooning at the foot of the cross or at other moments, and that van der Weyden's Descent was the most influential painting to show this moment. This swooning was described by theologians with the word spasimo.[5] In the early 16th century, such was the popularity of depictions of the swooning Virgin, Pope Julius II was lobbied with a request to designate a holy day as a feast of the spasimo. The request was turned down.[6] Art historian Lorne Campbell has identified the figures in the painting as (from left to right): Mary Cleophas (half-sister to the Virgin Mary); John the Evangelist, Mary Salome (in green, another half-sister of the Virgin Mary), The Virgin Mary (swooning), the corpse of Jesus Christ, Nicodemus (in red), a young man on the ladder - either a servant of Nicodemus or of Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph of Arimathea (in field-of-cloth-of-gold robes, the most sumptuous costume in the painting), the bearded man behind Joseph holding a jar and probably another servant[7] and Mary Magdalene who adopts a dramatic pose on the right of the painting.[8] There is disagreement between art historians as to the representation of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Dirk de Vos identifies Joseph of Arimathea as the man in red supporting Christ's body, and Nicodemus as the sumptuously dressed man supporting Christ's legs, the opposite of Campbell's identification.[9]

Crucifixion Altarpiece

Creator: Weyden, Rogier van der Creation Year: 1440 CE Culture: Flemish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands A rectangular framework design, not linked to the depiction behind it, occurs in this triptych that has a Crucifixion in the middle. As in the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, a unified scene, in this case a landscape, links all three panels, while the centre is marked off from the side panels and emphasized. Not only do the gestures of Mary, John, and the grieving angels express strong emotion, so also do the billowing cloak of St John and the ends of Christ's loincloth, which swirl ornamentally in the air, though on the whole the work is less emotional than the Abegg Triptych. The donors, a married couple, have approached the Cross; they are shown on the same scale as the saints, though they are not to be seen as really part of the Crucifixion scene - they are present only in thought, in their prayer and meditation, and are thus on a different plane of reality from the other figures. Their relation to the main scene is like that of the Christian believer to the image before which he or she kneels devoutly. The Crucifixion Triptych, like the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece, is impressive in its composition. The two are linked not only by the use of a painted golden frame structure in the picture (not found, or not yet found, in any other surviving works by Rogier), but also in the style of the underdrawing. Both works may have been created at roughly the same time, and the dating of the triptych to around 1445, on dendrochronological evidence, would support that theory. Certainly the designs of both pictures derive from Rogier himself, but his assistants seem to have been involved in the execution, and perhaps did some of the preparatory underdrawing as well. The figures of the triptych are executed to a very high standard. However, they seem more abstract and graphic and less three-dimensional than those in the great Deposition (Prado, Madrid), the Madonna in Red (Prado, Madrid), and the Miraflores Altarpiece (Staatliche Museen, Berlin). There is less play of light and shade, and although the landscape is crisscrossed by many rocky crevices and paths, it seems rather empty. Not a single blade of grass enlivens the foreground, and the view into the distance, with the town, also seems dry and lacking in atmosphere, in marked contrast to the artist's other landscapes.

Seven Sacraments Altarpiece

Creator: Weyden, Rogier van der Creation Year: 1453-1455 CE Culture: Flemish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece is a fixed-wing triptych by the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden and his workshop. It was painted from 1445 to 1450, probably for a church in Poligny, and is now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. It depicts the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. On the left panel are baptism, confirmation and confession and on the right hand panel the ordination of a priest, marriage and the last rites. The central panel (possibly the only autograph part of the work) is dominated by a crucifixion in the foreground, with the sacrament of the Eucharist in the background. Angels hover over each sacrament with scrolls, with clothes colour-matched to the sacraments, from white for baptism to black for the last rites. The side panels also depict the altarpiece's commissioners, along with some portrait heads only added shortly before the work was completed. A coat of arms (probably that of the commissioner) is painted in the spandrels of the painting's inner frame.

The Annunciation

Creator: Weyden, Rogier van der Creator: Memling, Hans Creation Year: 1465-1475 CE Medium: oil on wood Culture: Flemish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands It is an early work by the Netherlandish artist, with a visible re-elaborations of elements from Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck. The central panel depicts a composition within a domestic interior, with a richly dressed Angel surprising the Virgin who reads a book (a symbol of the Holy Books). Van der Weyden paid attentions to technical details, such as the shining metallic objects, like the lamp, the jar, the medallion hanging over the bed. The horizon line is elevated like in other contemporary Neterlandish paintings. The side panels have similar characteristics, but are set in more luminous landscapes, with the elements in the background becoming increasingly invisible in the haze, according to aerial perspective.

Miraflores triptych altarpiece

Creator: Weyden, Rogier van der Culture: Flemish Period: 15th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands The left-hand wing shows Mary dressed in a violet-white robe, looking at the infant Christ as he returns her gaze. Beside them a seated Saint Joseph is dressed in red with a long head-dress, dozing as he leans on a staff. The hem of Mary's robe is inscribed in golden script containing text from the "Canticle of Mary" of Luke 1:46-48.; My soul doth magnify the Lord....[13] This panel was long assumed to be a Nativity until described by art historian Erwin Panofsky as a simple representation of the Holy Family.[10] The accompanying reliefs show moments of the Life of Christ; key events from his infancy to the Presentation at the Temple.[2] Van der Weyden's c. 1455 Altar of Saint John. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. This triptych is linked to the Miraflores in its shared symbolic motifs, most notably the winding pathway, doorway and perspective tiles.[11] In the centre panel, Mary is shown in a red robe holding the Christ's lifeless long body. Saint Peter and Luke the Evangelist stand on either side of her. Both are dressed in black clothes, and represent, the foundation of the early Church and the Gospels, respectively.[2] The right-hand panel shows the moment (not in any of the Gospels) when Christ appears to his mother after his Resurrection, which is repeated at a smaller scale in the distance through the open doorway at rear. Although van der Weyden had otherwise presented the chronology of the triptych from left to right, the background resurrection is to the right of the Appearance in the foreground. The sequence is suggested by the picture's depth (in that the scene in the foreground is chronologically the more recent), and by the long winding path that leads from the tomb to the interior. The artist uses a number of pictorial devices to suggest the approach of the risen Christ, including the winding path, the doors which open inwards, and the exterior light falling on the interior tiles.[11] The archway reliefs include representations of the Old Testament antecedents to The Passion, including the Death of Absalom and the Binding of Isaac.[2] The panels are in good condition and have not suffered significant damage. They were cleaned in 1981 when layers of discoloured and ruined varnishes were removed.[14] Technical examination shows that Rogier made a number of changes to the final poses.[15]

Geertgen tot Sint Jans

Dutch artist, perhaps the most important early Netherlandish painter. Little is known of his life. Only two paintings are attributed to him with certainty. 17th century print maker Jacob van Matham named Leiden as Geertgen's place of birth. Karel van Mander, a 17th century art historian, says that Geertgen was a pupil of Albert Ouwater's, said to be the founder of the Haarlem school of painting. Geertgen lived with and worked for the Haarlem Knights Hospitaller, or Knights of St John - hence his name (Sint Jan = St John). In his work influences of Hugo van der Goes can be detected. Typical for Geertgen are the bold colors, oval shaped faces, the attention for landscapes and the rather simple geometrical forms.

Claus Sluter

EARLY RENAISSANCE, International style, German sculptor is considered a "Pioneer of Northern Realism;" Well of Moses. Hexagonal sculpture. traditionally has horns (born c. 1340, Haarlem?, Holland [now in the Netherlands]—died between Sept. 24, 1405, and Jan. 30, 1406, Dijon, Burgundy [now in France]), influential master of early Netherlandish sculpture, who moved beyond the dominant French taste of the time and into highly individual monumental, naturalistic forms. The works of Claus Sluter infuse realism with spirituality and monumental grandeur. His influence was extensive among both painters and sculptors of 15th-century northern Europe. Born in the mid-14th century, Sluter is known through his works rather than accounts of his person. He is thought to be the Claes de Slutere van Herlam (Haarlem) who was listed in the records of the stonemasons' guild in Brussels about 1379. From ducal archives he is known to have entered in 1385 the service of Philip II the Bold, duke of Burgundy, who was ruler of the Netherlands and regent of France in the last decades of the century. Philip founded the Carthusian monastery of Champmol at Dijon in 1383 and made its chapel a dynastic mausoleum adorned with sculpture by Sluter. All of the surviving sculpture known to be by Sluter was made for Philip. Two compositions are still to be found at the site of Champmol: the figures on the central pillar that divided the portal of the chapel show the duke and duchess presented by their patron saints John the Baptist and Catherine to the Virgin and Child; the "Well of Moses" in the cloister consists of the remains of a wellhead that had been surmounted by a group showing the Calvary of Christ. The other extant work is the duke's own tomb, which once stood in the chapel at Champmol but which has been reassembled in the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon. The archives in Dijon provide some information on Sluter's sculptural commissions. In 1389 he succeeded Jean de Marville as chief sculptor to the duke, and in that year he began carving the portal sculptures, which had been planned as early as 1386. He replaced the portal's damaged central canopy and by 1391 had completed the statues of the Virgin and Child and the two saints. By 1393 the statue of the duchess was completed, and it is presumed that the duke's statue also was finished by then. In 1395 he began the Calvary group for the cloister and in 1396 brought to Dijon his nephew Claus de Werve and sculptors from Brussels to assist in his numerous ducal commissions. The architectural portion of the duke's tomb had been completed by 1389, but only two mourning figures of the sculptural composition were ready when the duke died in 1404. Philip's son, Duke John the Fearless, contracted in 1404 for the completion of his father's tomb within four years, but Sluter's nephew did not finish it until 1410, and he used it as the model for Duke John's own tomb. (Many of the mourning figures around the base are copies of what must be Sluter's work, though the problem of establishing his exact contribution is difficult because the two tombs were disassembled in the French Revolution and extensively restored from 1818 to 1823.) Sluter, an innovator in art, moved beyond the prevailing French taste for graceful figures, delicate and elegant movement, and fluid falls of drapery. In his handling of mass, he also moved beyond the concern with expressive volumes visible in the sculptures of André Beauneveu, an eminent contemporary who worked for Philip's brother Jean, Duke de Berry. The grandeur of Sluter's forms can only be paralleled in Flemish painting (by the van Eycks and Robert Campin) or in Italian sculpture (by Jacopo della Quercia and Donatello) several decades later.

Master IAM of Zwolle

North Netherlandish engraver. The master, whose prints are signed with the monogram IA or IAM and usually the place name Zwoll(e), was the most original 15th-century engraver in the northern Netherlands. The maker's mark, which is worked into the monogram on a number of prints, makes the identification with the painter Jan van den Mijnnesten (d. 1504) very likely; the latter was frequently recorded in Zwolle between 1462 and 1504, but none of his works is known. Many of the Master's prints include the sign of a drill that was used for working on silver: this may indicate that they were engraved by a goldsmith after the painter's designs.

Simon Bening and workshop

One of the most celebrated painters of Flanders in the 1500s, Simon Bening was hailed by Portuguese art critic Francisco da Hollanda as the greatest master of illumination in all of Europe. In addition to producing books for powerful aristocrats such as Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Bening worked for a group of international royal patrons including Emperor Charles V and Don Fernando, the Infante of Portugal. He specialized in books of hours and is also known to have received commissions for painted genealogical tables and portable altarpieces on parchment. Bening's art continued the Flemish tradition of skillfully representing the muted natural light of haunting nocturnal scenes. His work also contributed to a newer Flemish practice of painting poetic landscape vistas. Simon learned his craft in the workshop of his father, the painter Alexander Bening, in Ghent. By 1500, he moved to Bruges. His career there developed quickly, and at least three times he served as dean of the calligraphers, booksellers, illuminators, and binders' Guild of Saint John and Saint Luke. As his father taught him, so Simon taught his children. His eldest daughter, Livinia, became court painter to Edward VI of England, and another daughter became a dealer in paintings, miniatures, parchment, and silk.

"Dairy Scene" The Da Costa Hours

Simon Bening and workshop, c. 1475 Creation Year: 1515 CE Period: 16th Century Worktype: Manuscript

Master of the Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves

The work's high quality and enormous iconographic variety lead us to assume that the Master of Catherine of Cleves must have been familiar with the art of the van Eyck brothers and with French illumination of his own day. On the other hand, he developed his own unmistakeable style which was to influence illuminators after him, not only in the Netherlands. Neither Willem Vrelant nor the Master of Mary of Burgundy are conceivable without this greatest of all Dutch book painters. A book like a picture gallery 157 half- and full-page miniatures with opulent frames make the Hours of Catherine of Cleves the largest coherent picture gallery of Dutch art from the 15th century. Many of these pictures are not only extraordinary in terms of form and content but also unique in the truest meaning of the word: nowhere else in late medieval art do we find parallels or correspondences to this work. Some of the impressive depictions, such as Purgatory and Hell, anticipate themes from the works of Hieronymus Bosch. And we even discover elements that hint at Dutch genre painting of later centuries.

Master of the Virgo inter Virgines

The. Master of the Virgo inter Virgines has been identified as Dirc Jansz. (active between 1474 and 1495), one of two artists referred to in the Delft city archives as active as a painter and printmaker during the last years of the 15th century. His work reflects a knowledge of the leading southern Netherlandish painters, suggesting that he travelled to that region. His style is notably individual and his figures are expressive to the point of hyper-realism. The Master of the Virgo inter Virgines developed a specific typology for these figures, with high, pronounced cheekbones, long necks and prominent foreheads. Notable works by this painter include The Annunciation (Boijmans- Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam), The Crucifixion Triptych (Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle), The Crucifixion (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence), and The Adoration of the Magi Triptych (Carolino Augusteum Museum, Salzburg). The provenances of these works suggest that they were foreign commissions, indicating that this artist worked beyond local boundaries.

Triptych of Jean Des Trompes

Title: Altarpiece of the Baptism of Christ Creator: David, Gerard Creation Year: 1502-1507 CE Medium: oil on panel Culture: Netherlandish Period: 16th Century Worktype: Painting Country: Netherlands The work of Gerard David, another foreigner drawn to the wealthy city of Bruges, offers a final summary of the technical and spiritual tradition of the fifteenth century. David was born in Oudewater in Holland, but worked mostly in Bruges between 1484 and 1523, where, in a manner of speaking, he became Memling's successor. Two of his masterpieces, The Jjudgment of Cambyses (1498) and the Triptych of Jan des Trompes, belong to the Groeninge Museum in Bruges. In both works, Memling's flawless precision and cool smoothness are combined with the anatomical realism and seriousness of Van der Goes. The triptych with the Baptism of Christ, even though it was probably done after the Jjudgment of Cambyses, still breathes the quiet, ethereal atmosphere so characteristic of the Flemish Primitives. It is also one of the period's most remarkable artistic evocations of landscape and flora. It was commissioned by Jan des Trompes, a leading civil servant in Bruges, who appears in the painting with his first and second wives (front and rear of the right wing). His third wife donated it to the Chapel of the Vierschaar tribunal in Saint Basil's Church after his death.

Master of the Playing Cards

Unidentified person who created the earliest known copperplate engravings (flourished c. 1430-50), anonymous German artist who is one of the most important of the early engravers in the Rhineland. He is known for a set of playing cards (60 remain) that are distinguished for the manner in which the technique of soft-ground engraving has been handled, as well as for an exquisite use of line and the realistic observation evident in the human figures, plants, and animals that have been depicted. Some of the decorative devices employed have been stylistically related to those used by the printer Johannes Gutenberg. It has long been recognised that his style was closely related to that of paintings from south-western Germany and Switzerland in the period 1430-50, by artists of whom the best known is Konrad Witz. In addition the Alpine cyclamen very frequently appears in the engravings. Although an identification proposed by Leo Baer of him with Witz has not been accepted, he does appear to have been trained as an artist rather than a goldsmith like many early engravers. His prints show an engraving technique closely related to drawing, with forms conceived in three dimensions and delicately modeled; engravers trained as goldsmiths, such as Master E. S. or Israhel van Meckenem, have a different set of stylistic conventions.[1] His shading is mostly parallel vertical lines, and cross-hatching is rare.[3] Apart from comparisons with paintings, the start of his period of activity can only be dated to before 1446 by a dated print by his presumed pupil the Master of 1446. The fact that he had a mature pupil suggests that he himself had been active for many years by that date.[3]

Robert Campin

Usually considered the first great master of Early Netherlandish painting. His life is relatively well documented for the period, but no works in assessable condition could be securely connected with him, whilst a corpus of work had been attached to the unidentified "Master of Flémalle", named after the supposed origin of a work,created the "Merode Altarpiece" an inconography depicting the Annunciation, Joseph and the Donors

Rogier van der Weyden

flemish painter, admired Jan van Eyck and Robert Campin, most of his work was religious, his work was particularly admired in Italy, created The Descent from the Cross Rogier van der Weyden never signed any of his paintings, but scholars know a man of this name was living and painting in Belgium during the 1400s and have worked in recent years to identify paintings that were most likely created by him. Van der Weyden's style is most often characterized as one that paid special attention to human emotion.

Hans Memling

lthough he was known as a master of Flemish painting, Hans Memling was born in Seligenstadt, near what is today Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Memling, whose name is sometimes spelled Memlinc, first established himself as a painter in Brussels. In style and composition his work shows the strong influence of Rogier van der Weyden, the great Flemish painter. Because of this, Memling is thought to have studied under the older artist. In about 1466 Memling moved to Brugge, where his career prospered. Like many other Flemish masters, Memling painted with glowing colors and fine craftsmanship. Unlike most artists, his style varied little throughout his career. Many of Memling's well-known religious works were painted for the Hospital of St. John in Brugge. These include Adoration of the Magi and six panels depicting St. Ursula's journey to Rome, which he painted for the hospital's shrine to that saint. Memling was a master of portraiture. The faces he painted with careful detail glow with life. The character of each is subtly suggested. In addition to the portraits Memling painted for the notables of Brugge, he also received commissions from foreign visitors such as Tommaso Portinari of the Florentine Medici. Memling died in Brugge on Aug. 11, 1494.

Master of Mary of Burgundy

shows a crowd scene also in the hours of engelbert, a crowd watching jesus being nailed, seen through a window, sculpture & architecture, prayer book wrapped in black velvet, strong references to Mary's world, looking through a threshold, mary at her window reading, though the window is another mary kneeling before a giant madonna in a church, transfigured world of heaven, people are wandering the aisles of the church, the frame of the window is more real than the scene outside, compared to jan van eyck rolin madonna, multiplied perspectives, sacred axis The anonymous painter known as the Master of Mary of Burgundy was one of the most talented and inventive of South Netherlandish illuminators. Deeply influenced by the leading painters from Ghent, especially Hugo van der Goes, he introduced to the pages of books a new subtlety and richness in the depiction of light and color and an emotional expressiveness rivaled only by the art of Van der Goes. The art of the Ghent-Bruges school originated in his illumination, and his iconographic and formal innovations remained influential for several generations. A painter and draftsman, the Master worked for illustrious patrons at the court of Burgundy, including the duke and duchess themselves, Charles the Bold and Margaret of York. The Master's name derives from his most celebrated work, a book of hours made around 1480 for Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of the duke. Working in Ghent, which by 1475 was a renowned artistic center, he produced a variety of liturgical and secular books. He collaborated with the most talented artists in the southern Netherlands book trade, including the illuminators Lieven van Lathem and Simon Marmion and Nicolas Spierinc, the scribe of the Hours of Mary of Burgundy.