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Northern Europe 1400 to 1500

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Europe in the 15th Century

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Goals

• Understand the effect of political power in the development of

Northern European art.

• Examine the variety and types of media used in art in this period.

• Identify specific artists, their respective styles, and their key works

of art.

• Understand the integration of sacred and secular power and

wealth, along with its resultant display in art.

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The Art of France and Flanders

• Examine the effect of political power on the sumptuous art forms that developed in the 15th Century.

• Examine the results of Burgundian wealth and largesse directed to art.

• Understand the growth of public devotional art, the artists, new art media and new illusionistic devices developed.

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The Very Sumptuous Hours

• Examine the sumptuous art forms that developed in the 15th

Century.

• Explore French manuscript illumination and the new spatial

and illusionistic devices used in art.

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Figure 18-33 Blanche of Castile, Louis IX, and two

monks, dedication page (folio 8 recto) of a moralized Bible,

from Paris, France, 1226–1234. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf

on vellum, 1’ 3” X 10 1/2”. Pierpont Morgan Library, New

York.

Gothic

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Figure 20-15 LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, JEAN,

HERMAN), January, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de

Berry, 1413–1416. Ink on vellum, approx. 8 7/8" X 5 3/8".

Musée Condé, Chantilly.

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Figure 20-16 LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, JEAN,

HERMAN), October, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,

1413–1416. Ink on vellum, 8 7/8" X 5 3/8”. Musée Condé,

Chantilly.

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Figure 20-2 CLAUS SLUTER, Well of

Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon,

France, 1395–1406. Limestone with traces

of paint, Moses 6’ high.

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CLAUS SLUTER, Well of Moses, Chartreuse

de Champmol, Dijon, France, 1395–1406.

Limestone with traces of paint, Moses 6’

high.

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Figure 20-2 CLAUS SLUTER, Well of

Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon,

France, 1395–1406. Limestone with traces

of paint, Moses 6’ high.

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CLAUS SLUTER, Tomb of Philip the Bold,

each figure about 16” high.

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CLAUS SLUTER, Tomb of Philip the Bold,

each figure about 16” high.

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Figure 20-3 MELCHIOR BROEDERLAM, Retable de

Champmol. from the chapel oft he Chartreuse de Champmol,

Dijon, France, installed 1399. Oil on wood, each wing 5’ 5 3/4”

X 4’ 1 1/4”. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon.

Figure 20-4 ROBERT CAMPIN (MASTER OF FLEMALLE), Merode Altarpiece (open), ca. 1425-1428. Oil

on wood, center panel 2’ 1 3/8” X 2’ 7/8”, each wing 2’ 1 3/8” X 10 7/8”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New

York (The Cloisters Collection, 1956).

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Burgundian Wealth and Art

• Understand the need for sacred sculpture and new sacred art.

• Examine the growth of devotional altarpieces, the media, and

individual artists.

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Figure 20-5 JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece

(closed), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium,

completed 1432. Oil on wood, 11’ 6" X 7’ 6".

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Figure 20-6 JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece (open), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432. Oil on wood,

11’ 5" X 15’ 1”.

PROPHET ZACHARIAS DETAIL

Annunciation Angel detail

ERYTHRAEAN SIBYL

DETAIL

Arched Window detail

CUMAEAN SIBYL DETAIL

Niche with washbasin detail

PROPHET MICHEAS DETAIL

Mary detail

Donor detail

Saint John detail, from The Holy Trinity by

Masaccio, 1424 – 27, Florence

Saint John the Baptist detail:

Note lamb attribute

Saint John the Evangelist detail:

Note chalice attribute

Donor’s wife detail

Mary detail , from The Holy Trinity

by Masaccio, 1424 – 27, Florence

Ghent Altarpiece (opened)

The offering of Able & Cain detail

Virgin Mary detail

God (and Christ?)detail

John the Baptist detail

Killing of Abel detail

Just Judges detail

Soldiers of Christ detail

Adoration of the Lamb

Prophets detail

Clergy detail

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Figure 20-8 ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Deposition, center panel of a triptych from Notre-Dame hors-les-murs, Louvain,

Belgium, ca. 1435. Oil on wood, 7’ 2 5/8" X 8’ 7 1/8". Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Mary Magdalene

Saint John

Figure 20-9 ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, ca. 1435-1440. Oil and tempera on wood, 4’ 6 1/8” X 3’ 7 5/8”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lee Higginson)

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Private Images

• Examine the private devotional art created at this time.

• Understand the illusionistic devices in painting, the

atmosphere of the private home, and the attention to

symbolism.

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Figure 20-1 JAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini

and His Bride, 1434. Oil on wood, approx. 2’ 9" X

1’ 10 1/2". National Gallery, London.

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Portraiture and the Growing Interest in Secular Art

• Examine the rise of portraiture and self-portraits and the

social and economic factors that made portraiture desirable.

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Figure 20-7 JAN VAN EYCK, Man in a Red

Turban, 1433. Oil on wood, 1’ 1 1/8” X 10

1/4". National Gallery, London.

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Figure 20-10 ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN,

Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1460. Oil on panel, 1’ 1 3/8" X

10 1/16". National Gallery, Washington, D.C.

(Andrew W. Mellon Collection).

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20.2 Flemish Public and Private Devotional Art

• Examine the large numbers of private and public devotional art created at this time.

• Identify specific artists, their respective styles and their key works of art.

• Understand the relationship between religious and secular authority in the development of art.

• Examine the rise of portraiture and self-portraits.

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Flemish Public Devotional Art

• Examine the complex illusionary images of the Flemish

artists, especially noting the development of a single

vanishing point.

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Figure 20-12 DIRK BOUTS, Last

Supper central panel of the Altarpiece of the

Holy Sacrament, Saint Peter’s, Louvain,

Belgium, 1464–1468. Oil on wood, 6’ X

5’.

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Figure 20-13 HUGO VAN DER GOES, Portinari Altarpiece (open), from Sant’Egidio, Florence, Italy, ca. 1476. Tempera and oil

on wood, 8’ 3 1/2" X 10’ center panel, 8’ 3 1/2" X 4’ 7 1/2" (each wing). Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

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Figure 20-14 HANS MEMLING, Virgin with Saints and Angels, center panel of the Saint John Altarpiece, Hospitaal Sint Jan, Bruges,

Belgium, 1479. Oil on wood, 5’ 7 3/4" X 5’ 7 3/4" (center panel), 5’ 7 3/4" X 2’ 7 1/8" (each wing).

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Figure 20-11 PETRUS CHRISTUS,

A Goldsmith in His Shop, 1449. Oil on

wood, approx. 3’ 3" X 2’ 10".

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New

York (the Robert Lehman Collection,

1975).

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15th Century French and German Art

• Understand the royal court art in France and the integration of the sacred and the secular in art.

• Examine the art that developed in Germany and in the Holy Roman Empire.

• Comprehend the variety and types of media used in art in this period.

• Identify specific artists, their respective styles, and their key works of art.

• Examine the development of graphic art, especially in Germany in the 15th Century.

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French Sacred and Secular Art

• Understand royal court art and the integration of the sacred

and the secular.

• Identify specific artists, their styles, media and works of art.

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Figure 20-17 JEAN FOUQUET, Melun Diptych. Étienne Chevalier and Saint Stephen, (left wing), ca. 1450. Oil on wood, 3’ 1/2” X

2’ 9 1/2”. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. Virgin and Child, (right wing) ca. 1451. Oil on wood, 3’ 1 1/4” X 2’ 9 1/2”.

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp.

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15th Century German Art

• Examine the art patronage interest in private piety and

familiar themes.

• Identify specific artists, styles and works of art.

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Figure 20-20 KONRAD WITZ, Miraculous Draught of Fish, from the Altarpiece of Saint Peter, from Chapel of Notre-Dame

des Maccabées in the Cathedral of Saint Peter, Geneva, Switzerland, 1444. Oil on wood, approx. 4’ 3” X 5’ 1”. Musée d’art

et d’Histoire, Geneva.

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Figure 20-18 VEIT STOSS, The Death and

Assumption of the Virgin (wings open), altar of the

Virgin Mary, church of Saint Mary, Kraków, Poland,

1477–1489. Painted and gilded wood, central panel

23’ 9” high.

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Figure 20-19 TILMAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER, The

Assumption of the Virgin, center panel of the Creglingen Altarpiece,

Herrgottskirche, Creglingen, Germany, ca. 1495–1499.

Lindenwood, 6’ 1” wide.

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Development of Graphic Arts

• Examine the development of graphic arts, especially in

Germany in the 15th Century.

• Understand the processes that were developed in relief and

intaglio printmaking.

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Figure 20-21 MICHEL WOLGEMUT and shop,

Tarvisium, page from the so-called Nuremberg Chronicle,

1493. Woodcut,1’ 2” X 9”. Printed by ANTON

KOBERGER.

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Figure 20-22 MARTIN SCHONGAUER, Saint

Anthony Tormented by Demons, ca. 1480–1490.

Engraving, 1’ 1/4" X 9". Fondazione Magnani

Rocca, Corte di Mamiano.

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Discussion Questions

What were some of the most important innovations in art

media and spatial techniques at this time?

How does the court and wealthy merchant patronage shape

the content and appearance of religious and secular art?

Why does the portrait – absent in art for nearly 1000 years

– return in this period?