art history study
GHOST HAM
Chapter15Lecture.pptxEurope in the 15th Century
• Northern artists focused more on natural elements rather than solely on the idealized human form (i.e. lots of landscape with few figures is common)
• Oil paint was invented and it is generally attributed as Jan van Eyck’s invention; it offered artists the ability to paint layer after layer with a jewel-like crispness and transparency
• Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453): primarily fought between France and England, it spilled over to other areas as well like Flanders
• Black Death also wreaked havoc in other parts of Europe as well
• Early stages of capitalism: financial requirements of trade, new credit and exchange systems created an enterprising network of cities; the beginnings of trading firms; this encouraged people to move from rural areas to cities as well
• Invention of moveable type and printing press by Gutenberg
Figure 15-3 MELCHIOR BROEDERLAM, outer wings of the Retable de Champmol. Annunciation and Visitation (above) and Presentation and Flight into Egypt (right), from Chapel of the Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon, France, installed 1399. Panels, each 5’ 5 3/4” x 4’ 1 1/4”. Musée de la Ville, Dijon.
Netherlandish painter, court painter to Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, from 1387. Documents show that he was a busy and versatile artist, but his only surviving works are two wings from an altarpiece representing The Annunciation and Visitation and The Presentation and Flight into Egypt (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, 1394-99). They are among the first and finest examples of International Gothic, combining lavish decorative display with realistic touches that look forward to the later development of the Netherlandish School. The figure of St Joseph in The Flight into Egypt, for example, is represented as an authentic peasant. The center part of this painting is missing. The two stories on the left are before the birth of Jesus, the two stories on the right are after the birth of Jesus. What would be the scene at the middle?
Figure 15-4 ROBERT CAMPIN (Master of Flémalle), Mérode Altarpiece (open), The Annunciation (center panel), ca. 1425–1428. Oil on wood, center panel approx. 2’ 1” x 2’ 1”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The Cloisters Collection, 1956).
This is an example of a triptych that was commissioned for private home use; it is only two feet tall and because of its size, it would be easy for its owner to move it around when necessary; this is also a popular theme set in a contemporary for the time Flemish home; Mary is seen reading her book as the angel Gabriel comes to tell her of the news that she will bear the son of God; there are many symbols like the extinguished candle, lilies, copper basin, towels, fire screen, and bench that represent the Virgin’s purity and her divine mission in various ways; the patrons (the people who paid for the work of art) kneel in the left panel and are permitted to watch this event through an open door; they are in a closed garden which also symbolizes Mary’s purity; in the right panel we see Joseph in his carpentry workshop; he has made a mousetrap (a theological symbol that Christ is the bait set in the trap to catch the Devil). You will see an emergence of patrons being portrayed in the works of art they commissioned from artists starting in the 15th century. It is a way to humanize the subject as well as to show off their wealth. This painting is a really wonderful example of the Northern technique which includes the use of oil paint (developed by the next artist you will be learning about, Jan van Eyck), incredible detail - many of these painters were trained as manuscript illuminators (aka book illustrators) and worked on a very small scale, and symbolism.
Triptych: A three-panel painting or altarpiece. Also, a small, portable shrine with hinged wings used for private devotion.
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Figure 15-8 JAN VAN EYCK, Man in a Red Turban, 1433. Oil on wood, approx. 10 1/4" x 7 1/2". National Gallery, London.
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter who along with Robert Campin was the founder of the Ars Nova ("new art") of 15th-century Northern late-Gothic painting. This style heralded the Renaissance in northern Europe. This period of Netherlandish art is characterized by a naturalistic style of vivid oil colors, meticulous detail, accurately rendered textures, and the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. This particular piece is thought to be Jan's self-portrait. It contains a lot of Jan's proposed personality and the frame is signed and dated containing his personal motto, Als ich chan ("The best I am capable of doing"). This motto illustrates the humanist spirit that an artist accepts himself and is proud to display it. Art historians also look to the flamboyant red turban he wears as artists were wont to wear such headgear at this time.
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Figure 15-5 HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece (closed), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432. Oil on wood,
approx. 11’ 6" x 7’ 6".
Started by Hubert who died in 1426; Jan van Eyck was Phillip the Good’s court painter; he was trained as a miniaturist; it is the greatest monument in early Flemish painting; it is a triptych and has twenty component parts within the triptych; commissioned by a wealthy donor, a magistrate under Philip the Good, whose portrait is included; at the top of the closed altarpiece we have Zachariah and Micah with sibyls (mythological prophetesses) who foresaw the coming of Christ.
Please watch this SmartHistory video:
Figure 15-6 HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece (open), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432. Oil on wood, approx. 11’ 6" x 15’.
Inside, we see Adam and Eve and they are the earliest monumental nudes of Northern panel painting (they are just a little less than life size) and they remind us of our creation in God’s image; at the bottom, there is the community of saints from the four corners of the earth (prophets on the left; apostles and martyrs on the right); an altar with the symbol of Christ, the sacrificial lamb and the fountain of life (much like a baptismal font).
Please watch this SmartHistory video: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/northern-renaissance1/burgundy-netherlands/v/ghent-altar-open
There’s a great website that lets you zoom into the Ghent Altarpiece. Check it out! http://closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be/
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Figure 15-7 JAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, 1434. Oil on wood, approx. 2’ 8" x 1’ 11 1/2". National Gallery, London.
Portrait of a financier who worked for the Florentine Medici family and his bride, Giovanna Cenami; they stand on holy ground (no shoes), little dog symbolizes fidelity, the bedpost heralds a tiny statue of Saint Margaret the saint of childbirth (see next slide for detail), whisk broom = domesticity, oranges refer to fertility and the working relationship that Giovanni Arnolfini had with the Medici family in Florence (their family crest is a shield with oranges on it), candle (also part of Flemish marriage custom) and mirror symbolize the all seeing eye of God. Contrary to many students’ believe, the bride is NOT pregnant. She is wearing many layers of clothing (it is the North - brrrrr!) and she is hoisting them up to illustrate her coming role as mother. Notice she stands next to the interior space with the bed and he stands near the window. Both positions reflect their traditional gender roles as husband and wife.
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JAN VAN EYCK, detail of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, 1434.
The mirror you are looking at is probably no more than 5-6 inches in diameter. If you zoom in closely, you can see little circular scenes in the framework. Those are the scenes called the Passion of Christ and detail his trial and execution via crucifixion. Also, the sculpture of St. Margaret (the patron saint of pregnancy and childbirth) is carved into the post where the dust broom is hung.
Figure 15-9 ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Deposition, from Notre-Dame hors-les-murs, Louvain, Belgium, ca. 1435. Oil on wood, approx. 7’ 3" x 8’ 7". Museo del Prado, Madrid.
After studying under Robert Campin in his hometown of Tournai, Belgium, Rogier Van der Weyden moved to Brussels where he established his reputation. He worked as the official court painter to the city and the Burgundian court beginning in1436. Rogier’s compositions always focused on the drama and emotion of the scenes involving Christ’s death; this is part of a triptych and is the center panel, commissioned by the Archers’ Guild of Louvain; he honors his patrons by including crossbows in the corners of the panel – they serve as architectural elements; he encloses his figures, not in landscape, but in a very small room; his figures do seem to occupy a three-dimensional space – it is very illusionistic.
Figure 15-9A ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN. Last Judgment Altarpiece (open),
Hôtel-Díeu, Beaune, France, ca. 1444-1448. Panel, 7’ 4 5/8” x 17’ 1”. Musée de l’Hôtel-Díeu, Beaune.
This is the image for SmartHistory HW #2.
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Figure 15-8A ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1460. Oil on panel, 1’ 1 3/8" x 10 1/16". National Gallery, Washington.
Rogier’s expressive and colorful portraits were known for their technical and compositional aptitude. His paintings involved religious themes and conveyed psychological characteristics of the figures, a quality that influenced many future Flemish artists. This painting is an outstanding example of the abstract elegance characteristic of Rogier's late portraits. Although the identity of the sitter is unknown, her air of self-conscious dignity suggests that she is a member of the nobility. Her costume and severely plucked eyebrows and hairline are typical of those favored by highly placed ladies of the Burgundian court. The stylish costume does not distract attention from the sitter. The dress, with its dark bands of fur, almost merges with the background. The spreading headdress frames and focuses attention upon her face. Light falls with exquisite beauty along the creases of the sheer veiling over her head, and gentle shadows mark her fine bone structure. In contrast to the spareness of execution in most of the painting, the gold filigree of her belt buckle is rendered with meticulous precision. The scarlet belt serves as a foil to set off her delicately clasped hands. Rogier excelled as a portrait painter because he so vividly presented the character of the persons he portrayed. The downcast eyes, the firmly set lips, and the tense fingers reflect this woman's mental concentration. Rogier juxtaposed the strong sensation of the sitter's acute mental activity to his rigid control of the composition and the formality of her costume and pose, presenting the viewer with an image of passionate austerity.
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Figure 15-11 DIRK BOUTS, Last Supper (central panel of the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament), Saint Peter’s, Louvain, Belgium, 1464–1468. Oil on wood, approx. 6’ x 5’.
The Last Supper is the central panel of Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament, commissioned from Bouts by the Leuven Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament in 1464. A confraternity is a group of church members who celebrate a certain aspect of the Catholic Mass. This particular confraternity celebrated Holy Communion which is a reenactment of the Last Supper. The Last Supper is when Jesus and his disciples gathered to commemorate the Passover, the Jewish holiday of when the angel of death passed over the homes of the Israelites while in bondage in Egypt (the last of the 10 plagues sent by God to punish the pharaoh). It is the last meal he has with his disciples and a traditional telling of it showcases the disciples reacting to Jesus’s announcement that someone among them will betray him.
Scholars have noted that Bouts's Last Supper was the first Flemish panel painting depicting the events of the Last Supper. However, in this central panel, Bouts did not focus on the biblical narrative itself but instead presented Christ in the role of a priest performing a ritual from the liturgy of the Christian Church - the consecration of the Eucharistic wafer. This contrasts strongly with other Last Supper depictions, which often focused on Judas's betrayal or on Christ's comforting of John. 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.
All of the central room's orthogonals (lines imagined to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane that converge at a vanishing point) lead to a single vanishing point in the center of the mantelpiece above Christ's head. However the small side room has its own vanishing point, and neither it nor the vanishing point of the main room falls on the horizon of the landscape seen through the windows. The Last Supper is the second dated work to display an understanding of Italian linear perspective (more on that in chapter 16).
Figure 15-12 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.
This is a Visitation scene; shepherds on the right; variation in the scale of figures; dynamic sense of emotion particularly on the shepherds’ faces – gazing at the Christ child in wonderment; the orange lilies represent passion; the iris is Hugo van der Goes’ favorite flower; the columbine represents the sorrows of the Virgin Mary; 15 angels represent the 15 joys of Mary; the wheat is a symbol for Bethlehem; Harp of David represents the ancestor of Christ.
Detail
Figure 15-12 Left Panel Total
Saints Thomas and Anthony join the male members of the Portinari family as their protectors; in the background we see Mary and Joseph traveling toward the central panel, Bethlehem, where Mary will give birth.
Figure 15-12 Right Panel Total
The artist portrays a dragon underneath the feet of St. Margaret (holding the cross); the legend is that when she refused to marry a Roman prefect, she was imprisoned and a devil, in the form of a dragon devoured her. When she made the sign of the cross, the dragon split open and she emerged unscathed, hence her special popularity for pregnant women. Her legend was well known throughout Europe by the fifth century; the other woman is Mary Magdalene along with Mona Portinari and daughter; in the background, the Magi (the three wise men/kings) are traveling and their servant is asking for directions to the manger.
Detail of the dragon. The Northerners had rich imaginations steeped in the pagan and folkloric Medieval traditions they grew up with. Think of fairy tales and the kinds of monsters depicted in those. Most of those fairy tales come from the medieval era of imaginative creatures.
Figure 15-15 LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, HERMAN, JEAN), January, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416. Ink on vellum, approx. 8 1/2" x 5 1/2". Musée Condé, Chantilly.
Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry translates to the Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry. A book of hours is used for reciting prayers. This example is a beautiful illuminated manuscript done for Jean, the duke of Berry, the brother of King Charles V of France. The duke was an avid patron of the arts who loved manuscripts, jewels, and rare artifacts; the Limbourg brothers worked on this manuscript until their deaths; these calendar pages are some of the most famous illustrations in the history of illuminated manuscripts; they represent the 12 months in terms of the associated seasonal tasks, alternating scenes of nobility (seen here) and peasantry (next slide); this is the New Year’s reception at court; also a representation of the Trojan War.
Figure 15-16 LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, HERMAN, JEAN), October, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416. Ink on vellum, approx. 8 1/2” x 5 1/2”. Musée Condé, Chantilly.
Peasants work in front of the Louvre (the king’s palace at this time); they don’t seem disgruntled as they go about their tasks, but remember this is a book made for the duke who wants to be seen like a compassionate master; there is convincing three-dimensional space here by the way the artist use light and shadow.
Figure 15-18 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 of Melun Diptych, ca. 1451. Oil on wood, 3’ 1 1/4” x 2’ 9 1/2”. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belgium.
This was made for private devotional use as well and was painted for the treasurer of France, Étienne Chevalier; his portrait is painted with his patron saint, Stephen; Stephen holds his object of martyrdom, a stone (he was stoned to death); the painting of the Virgin on the right side is actually a portrait of Charles VII’s mistress; highly idealized image of courtly beauty as she is presented as an earthly queen complete with the royal ermine cape (white fur with black spots). The breastfeeding Madonna was a popular trope in art by this time as Mary symbolizes being the mother and nurturer of all.
Figure 15-19 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.
Witz was known for his interest in water effects. The landscape’s prominence and is recognizable as Lake Geneva and surrounding areas. Witz uses a recognizable landscape, instead of the Sea of Galilee where this miracle took place, in order to humanize the subject and make it more relatable to viewers. This story is detailed in the Gospel book of Luke, chapter 5. Jesus’s disciples went out to fish and had no luck in catching any in their nets. Jesus shows up and tells them to cast their nets one more time. When they do, they catch so much fish that their boat nearly sinks. Jesus also walks on water at this point.
Figure 15-21 TILMAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER, The Assumption of the Virgin, center panel of the Creglingen Altarpiece, parish church, Creglingen, Germany, ca. 1495–1499. Carved lindenwood, 6’ 1" wide.
This is an intricate carving of the assumption of the Virgin into heaven (when Mary goes to heaven when she dies). Here we can see elements of Gothic decoration on the canopy arches above. The figures move with fluidity; there is psychic strain on the faces of the figures and this heightens he spirituality of the figures.
Germans were well known for their wood carving.
Figure 15-22 MICHEL WOLGEMUT and Shop, Madeburga page from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. Woodcut. Printed by Anton Koberger.
This is one of the first books printed from the printing press using moveable type. Please watch this brief History Channel video about the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg: http://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/videos/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us-the-printing-press
The importance of Wolgemut as an artist rests, not only on his own individual works, but also on the fact that he was the head of a large workshop, in which many different branches of the fine arts were carried on by a great number of pupil-assistants, including Albrecht Dürer, who completed an apprenticeship with him between 1486-9.
The Nuremberg Chronicle is one of the best documented early printed books, being printed in 1493. As was common at the time, the book did not have a title page. Latin scholars refer to it as Liber Chronicarum (Book of Chronicles) as this phrase appears in the index introduction of the Latin edition. English speakers have long referred to it as the Nuremberg Chronicle after the city in which it was published. German speakers refer to it as Schedel's World History in honor of its author.
An estimated 1400-1500 Latin and 700-1000 German copies were published. A document from 1509 records that 539 Latin versions and 60 German versions had not been sold. Approximately 400 Latin and 300 German copies survived into the twenty-first century.
The large workshop of Michael Wolgemut, then Nuremberg's leading artist in various media, provided the unprecedented 1,809 woodcut illustrations. Albrecht Dürer was an apprentice with Wolgemut from 1486-9, so may well have participated in designing some of the illustrations for the specialist craftsmen (called "formschneiders”) who cut the blocks, onto which the design had been drawn, or a drawing glued. Madeburga is a German town, but this illustration is probably more of generalization of what medieval towns looked like.
Woodcut: A wooden block on the surface of which those parts not intended to print are cut away to a slight depth, leaving the design raised. Also, the printed impression made with such block.
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Figure 15-23 MARTIN SCHONGAUER, Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons, ca. 1480–1490. Engraving, approx. 1’ 1" x 11". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Rogers Fund, 1920).
An example of the kinds of fantastical images that German artists would incorporate into their works. Schongauer drew his inspiration for a lot of the monsters in this print from the fish markets. It is one of the artist’s earliest and most influential prints. For more information about Saint Anthony, click here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great
Engraving: The process of incising a design in hard material, often a metal plate (usually copper); also, the print or impression made from such a plate.
A thirteen-year old Michelangelo was so impressed by Schongauer’s work that he painted his own version of it around 1488. This is a real testament to printmaking’s ability to be widely circulated as the artist was from Germany and his print made it all the way to Florence, Italy.
What teenaged kid wouldn’t think Schongauer’s work was totally amazing?!
