CHAPTER 15 – Northern Europe, 1400 to 1500

The art of Northern Europe in the 15th century is typified by precision in rendering surfaces and a wealth of tiny details that came from a tradition of manuscript painting and a belief in the importance of every tiny creation of God's world.
The technical development of oil paint provided a paint that dried slowly and was transparent so made possible rich, jewel-like colors and illusionistic textures through a build-up of layers of paint. Works to identify and know in depth: Artist Title Date Jan van Eyck Arnolfini Double Portrait 1400s (15-1) This painting is believed to be a portrait of the Italian merchant Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, presumably in their home in the Flemish city of Bruges. It is considered one of the most original and complex paintings in Western art history. Both signed and dated by Van Eyck in 1434, it is, with the Ghent Altarpiece by the same artist and his brother Hubert, the oldest very famous panel painting to have been executed in oils rather than in tempera. The painting was bought by the National Gallery in London in 1842. Claus Sluter Well of Moses 1400s (15-2) 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. 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. Robert Campin Mérode Triptych 1400s (15-4)

Van der Weyden Deposition 1400s (15-8) His primary concern was to emphasize the forcefulness of the depiction. Rogier even departs deliberately from what can be rationally imagined, and so breaks with the manner of realistic spatial depiction that had only recently been achieved in painting. The niche he paints is deep enough at the bottom of the picture to accommodate several figures, the upright of the Cross, and the ladder leaning against it; but in some areas at the top it seems to come close to the surface of the picture - the helper on the ladder is pressed tightly into the shallow upper space of the shrine, while the head of the bearded Joseph of Arimathaea just below seems to protrude from the picture. All the figures are brought forward by the golden back wall so that the space surrounds them closely: convincing as their actions may look individually, there would never really have been room for them all. The result is a sense of timelessness and an almost oppressive intensity. Hugo Van der Goes Portinari Altarpiece 1400s (15-13) Martin Schongauer Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons 1400s (15-22)

Questions to prepare for Exam 1 as well as the 5 numbered questions on study sheet for Ch 14:
What are the major differences between Northern art and art in Italy in the 1400s?
The artist has used the new medium of oil paint to depict the textures of objects. Northern Renaissance artists were especially interested in depicting light on reflective surfaces. Also typical for much of Northern Renaissance portraiture is the inclusion of a very elaborate landscape that seems to go on as far as the eye can see. These landscapes often contain numerous details, such as a castle, trees, a lake, hills, a town in the distance, light reflecting in the water—and the illusion of space created by atmospheric perspective.
What are 2 major advantages of oil paint? How did the oil paint affect the look of Flemish art?
Colors don’t change much when dried; longer time to dry so changes can be made and its range of colors. Flemish art was more vivid and more linear perspective; attention to detail also increased.
Describe 4 ways that Jan van Eyck tells you what the roles expected of the man and woman in the Arnolfini Portrait? How does the artist announce his presence in this work?
The man is dressed up for business and is closer to the door. The woman isn’t pregnant but looks pregnant. The broom is in the back. She is submissive but the husband looks straight to the viewr.
Is Sluter's Moses idealized or naturalistic? Give an example from the work that proves it. It’s idealized. The fountain spouts water and the Crthusian commitment to silence and prayer wouldn’t allow that.
Describe the setting and what is happening in each panel of the Merode Triptych. What is the symbolism of (a) the lilies (b) the mousetrap (c) the candle (d) the book (e) Mary on floor?
It takes place in a Flemish merchant’s home. In the left, the merchant and his wife kneel before entering. In the middle, it’s the annunciation. St. Joseph is making a mousetrap. The lilies are for Mary’s virginity. The mousetrap represents Christ’s trapping and defeat of the devil. The scroll and book represent the Old & New Testament. Mary is on the floor to show humility. The candle shows real life with the smoke.
Describe the process used to make Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons. How can you tell it comes from Northern Europe rather than Italy? Who commissioned the Portinari Altarpiece? Why did it impact Italian art? What in the painting were Italian artists most impressed by?
It was commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, the Medici bank's representative in Bruges, for the church in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, back home in Florence. It was a way for Tommaso, so far away on business, to remind people not just of his existence, but of his civic loyalty.
The triptych consists of a large central panel with two wings. At the centre is a nativity scene intensely poised between joy and gravity, stillness and horror. Mary, in dark blue, prays to the newborn child on the ground. Joseph, to the left, is old, sombre, joining her in prayer. The shepherds seem almost to be leaping forward, their figures are so robust and elated as they squat and pray; they are very different in mood from the stately angels, whose faces are long and grave as they kneel and float all around. The setting is in the ruins of King David's palace - there is no glass in the gothic windows - where animals are stabled. They join in, too, expressing meditative devotion.
On the left-hand panel, the kneeling, plain-robed Tommaso Portinari and his little sons Antonio and Pigello participate in adoring Christ; St Thomas and St Anthony Abbot stand over them. On the right-hand panel, Tommaso's wife Maria Maddalena Baroncelli Portinari and their daughter Margherita pray with St Mary Magdalene and St Margaret.
The bare details are traditional - but there is nothing conventional about the ways in which Van der Goes brings this painting to stormy life. For a start, while the rich donor and his family are praying neatly, the shepherds are smiling, gesticulating, leaning forward to get a better look. They resemble slightly indisciplined actors in a nativity play staged by peasants. Van der Goes explicitly alludes to popular religious theatre; the whole composition of the central scene is theatrical.
In radical contrast, the angels are uncanny creatures. They have flattened, elongated, very serious faces; they are wise angels rather than happy ones. But most of all, they are real. The fusion of their coloured wings and almost drably humanoid bodies is so matter of fact, so convincing. Van der Goes can see them. He makes this emphatic by including, in the foreground, two vases of flowers, painted with the meticulous naturalism for which Dutch painters were to be revered centuries later. The detail of petals, leaves, ceramic and transparent glass placed at the centre of the painting, in front of Mary and between the angels, implies something about observation and fact: it implies that Van der Goes can "see" this vision just as surely as he can see those flowers.
This is a painting dense with personality and originality. Today's accounts of Renaissance art tend to put huge emphasis on patrons, on religious and communal commissioning. But a stunning new book, Gothic and Renaissance Altarpieces, in which the Portinari is reproduced, reveals that religious art was a territory of frenzied individualism. Altarpieces let the artist go crazy: Bosch painted The Garden of Earthly Delights as an altar triptych; similarly extreme are Grünewald's Isenheim Altarpiece and Bouts's wings from a Last Judgment altarpiece.
Big, folding, multi-layered, multi-scened altarpieces are some of the most ambitious paintings that exist, and they offered immense scope for bizarre invention, to delight and awe the illiterate churchgoer. The shepherds in Van der Goes's altarpiece represent the humble people to themselves.
Van der Goes is mysteriously fervent. His painting wants to say everything. In the background, the rest of the story is played out with magical concision. Mary and Joseph make their way through rocky hills to Bethlehem; the shepherds are visited by the angel; the Magi journey out of the east. Definitions (when studying terms, think of an artwork that can be used as an example): engraving: using a sharp pointed tool to cut a design into metal. This technique used both to decorate the metal and to make prints. illumination: painting in a hand-written book or scroll. print: artwork made by transferring ink to paper – usually done many times from same design.