Panels that Preface the Passion

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15th Century Flemish Art
Melchior Broederlam Annunciation and Visitation
Presentation and Flight into Egypt Musée de la
Ville ,Dijon, France, 1399
Panels that Preface the Passion

Fashioned by Philip the Bold for the major
altarpiece for the main chapel of the
Chartreuse This collaborative project consisted
of a large sculptural shrine carved by Jacques de
Baerze and exterior panels painted by Melchior
Broederlam and depicted Christs birth and
infancy The two panels depict both landscape and
interior scene, varying from Gothic to
Romanesque The representation of the parts of
the landscape and architecture reveals and
attempt at creating three-dimensional figures,
those of which are symbolic, the rotunda
referring to the Old testament while the Gothic
porch referring to the New Testament
Broederlams said treatment of the figures, their
halos, and the flat gold background recall
medieval pictorial conventions This work was a
precursor of many artistic developments that
preoccupied European artists throughout the
Fifteenth Century
Figure 20-3
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15th Century Flemish Art
Jan Van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece (closed),
1432 Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium
Seeking Salvation and Redemption
Figure 20-4
This is one of the largest and most admired
Flemish altarpieces of the fifteenth century.
Jodocus Vyd, burgomaster of Ghent, and his wife
Isabel Burlutt commissioned this polyptych from
Jan Van Eyck. This piece functioned as the
liturgical ( A prescribed form or set of forms
for public religious worship) centerpiece of the
endowment established in the chapel Vyd and
Borluut built in the local church dedicated to
Saint John the Baptist. Two of the exterior
panels at the bottom depict the donors. The
husband and wife kneel with their hands clasped
in prayer as they gaze at illusionistic stone
sculptures of Ghents patron saints Saint John
the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. An
Annunciation scene appears on the upper register,
with a careful representation of a Flemish town
outside the center panels painted window. In the
uppermost arched panels, van Eyck depicted images
of the Old Testament prophets Zachariah and Micah.
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Of Piety, Passion, and Politics
Ghent Altarpiece (open), Jan Van Eyck Saint Bavo
Cathedral, Ghent, ,Belgium 1432
Fifteenth-Century Flemish
This is the same Altarpiece from the other side,
but open. This shows a wonderfully colored
painting of the medieval conception of humanitys
Redemption. In the upper register, God the
Father-wearing the popes triple tiara, with a
worldly crown at his feet in the deep-scarlet
mantle- is presiding in majesty. To Gods right,
is the Virgin, who is represented as the Queen of
Heaven. Saint John the Baptist sits to Gods
left. To either side is a choir of angels and on
the right an angel playing an organ. Adam and
Eve appear in the far panels. The entire
altarpiece amplifies the central theme of
salvation- though humans, symbolized by Adam and
Eve are sinful, they will be save because of
Gods infinite love and he will sacrifice his own
son for this purpose.
The inscriptions in the arches above Mary and
Saint John extol the Virgins virtue and purity
and Saint Johns greatness as the forerunner of
Christ. The significant inscription above the
Lords head says This is God, all-powerful in
his divine majesty of all the best, by the
gentleness of his goodness the most liberal
giver, because of his infinite generosity.
Figure 20-5
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Of Piety, Passion, and Politics
Rogier Van der Weyden Last Judgment Altarpiece
(open) , Beaune, France. 1444-1448
Fifteenth-Century Flemish
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the image here.
Nicholas Rolin, whom Philip the Good had
appointed chancellor of the Burgundian
territories, commissioned this piece. This piece
was created for the Hotel-Dieu, which is a
hospital. This was used as part of treatment in
the church. People back then believed that
illnesses and other problems were because God was
angry. Therefore, they used to pray to patron
saints so they could get better.
Figure 20-7
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Of Piety, Passion, and Politics
Dirk Bouts Last Supper (center panel of the
Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament), Sait Peters
Louvain, Belgium. 1464-1468
Fifteenth-Century Flemish
This painting is the first northern one to used a
single vanishing point for constructing an
interior and he adjusts figures scale to
correspond to the space they occupy. The
perspective isnt perfect however. The windows
and side rooms do not adhere to the rules of
linear perspective. It was the first Flemish
panel painting depicting this event. He didnt
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. This contrasts sharply with
other Last supper depictions. The people
depicted are most like portraits of the
confraternitys members responsible for
commissioning the altarpiece.
Figure 20-8
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15th Century Flemish Art
Rogier Van Der Weyden, Deposition from
Notre-Dame hors-les-murs, 1435 Museo del Prado,
Madrid
The Drama of Christs Death
Figure 20-6
This piece was the center panel of a triptych
(three-paneled painting) the Archers Guild of
Louvain commissioned for the church of Notre Dame
hors-les-murs in Louvain. This altarpiece sums
up Rogiers early style and content. Instead of
creating a deep landscape setting, he compressed
the figures and action onto a shallow stage to
concentrate the observers attention. He
imitated the large sculptured shrines so popular
in the 15th century, and the device admirably
serves his purpose of expressing maximum action
with a limited space. The painting resembles a
stratified relief carving. A series of lateral
undulating movements gives the group a unity, a
formal cohesion that Rogier strengthened by
psychological means.
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the image here.
The depiction of the agony of loss is among the
most authentic in relgious art.
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Of Piety, Passion, and Politics
Deposition, Rogier Van Der Weyden (from
Notre-Dame hors-les-murs) Lovain, Belgium 1945
Fifteenth-Century Flemish
This is the sorrowful face of the Virgin Mary.
Figure 20-6
It was the center panel of a triptych, three
paneled painting, of the Archers Guild of Lovain
comissioned for the church of Notre Dame
hors-les-murs in Louvain. To represent the
patrons of this painting he ueses the crossbow,
the guilds symbol, in the spandrels. This
altarpiece nicely sums up Rogiers early style
and content. He used a shallow stage instead of
deep landscape setting. All of the characters
are close together and there is little background
space at all. A series of lateral undulating
movements gives the group a unity, a formal
cohesion that Rogier strengthened by
psychological means- by the desolating anguish
common to all the figures. The similar poses of
Jesus and Mary further unify the painting. He is
an amazing emotion painter. The sorrow on the
faces of the characters is among the most
authentic in religious art.
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15th Century Flemish Art
Robert Campin, Merode Altarpiece(open),1425
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
The Symbolic and the Secular
The central panel depicts the popular
Annunciation theme in which the archangel Gabriel
approaches Mary, who sits reading The book,
extinguished candle, lilies, copper basin( in the
corner niche), towels, fire screen, and bench
symbolize, in different ways, the Virgins purity
and her divine mission In the right panel,
Joseph has made a mousetrap, symbolic of the
theological tradition that Christ is bait set in
the trap of the world to catch the Devil In the
left panel the altarpieces donor, Peter
Inghelbrecht and his wife kneel and watch in awe
of this momentous event The couple appear in a
closed garden which symbolizes Marys purity and
the flowers represent Marys virtues, especially
humility
Similar in format to large-scale Flemish
altarpieces, The Merode altarpiece is much
smaller, which allowed the owners to close the
wings and move the painting when necessary The
artist depicted a well-kept middle-class Flemish
home as the site of the event. Both the
architectural scene in the background of the
right wing and the included accessories such as
furniture, utensils, etc, reinforce the settings
identification. These objects also function as
symbols
Figure 20-11
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15th Century Flemish Art
Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His
Bride 1434 National Gallery, London
For Better, For Worse
Van Eyck depicted the Lucca financier and his
betrothed in a Flemish bedchamber that is
simultaneously mundane and charged with
spirituality. Almost every object conveys the
events sanctity, specifically, the holiness of
matrimony. Arnolfini and his bride, hand in
hand, take the marriage of vows. The
cast-aside clogs indicate this event is taking
place on holy ground. The little dog
symbolizes fidelity (the common canine name Fido
originated from the Latin Fido, to trust).
The bedposts crowning ornament is a tiny
statue of Saint Margaret, patron saint of
childbirth. From the finial hangs a whisk
broom, symbolic of domestic care. The oranges
on the chest below the window may refer to
fertility, and the all-seeing eye of God is seen
by the single candle in the left rear holder of
the chandelier and by again by the mirror.

Figure 20-13
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15th Century Flemish Art
Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His
Bride 1434 National Gallery, London
For Better, For Worse

Husbands traditionally presented brides with
clogs, and the solitary lit candle in the
chandelier was also part of Flemish marriage
practices. Van Eycks placement of the two
figures suggests conventional gender roles - the
woman stands near the bed and well into the room,
while the man stands near the open window,
symbolic of the outside world. Van Eyck enhanced
the documentary nature of this painting by
exquisitely painting each object. He carefully
distinguished textures and depicted the light
from the window on the left reflecting off
various surfaces. The artist augmented the
scenes credibility by including the convex
mirror, because viewers can see not only the
principals, Arnolfini and his wife, but also two
persons who look into the room through the door.
The pictures purpose seems to have been to
record and sanctify this marriage. Van Eyck was
present, as noted in the writing in the mirror
Johannes de Ecyk fuit hic.
Figure 20-12
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15th Century Flemish Art
Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His
Bride 1434 National Gallery, London
For Better, For Worse
The small medallions set into the mirrors frame
show tiny scenes from the Passion of Christ and
represent Gods everpresent promise of salvation
for the figures reflected on the mirrors convex
surface The artist augmented the scenes
credibility by including the convex mirror,
because viewers can see not only the principals,
Arnolfini and his wife, but also two persons who
look into the room through the door One of these
must be the artist himself, due to the florid
inscription above the mirror Johannes de Eyck
fuit hic, announcing he was present
Figure 20-12
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15th Century Flemish Art
Petrus Christus, A Goldsmith in His
Shop 1449 Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
A Golden Moment
This painting, just like Van Eycks portrait,
involves a couple and the holy sacrament of
matrimony. A goldsmith sits in his stall,
showing an elegantly attired couple a selection
of rings. The brides betrothal girdle lies on
the table, and the woman reaches for the ring the
goldsmith weighs. The carefully depicted
objects on the right side of the painting refer
to the goldsmiths trade. The raw materials -
precious stones, beads, crystal, coral, and seed
pearls - are scattered among finished products,
including rings, buckles, and brooches. The
convex mirror in the foreground extends the
paintings space into that of the viewers. This
painting incorporates secular and religious
elements. While focusing on an economic
transaction and the goldsmiths profession, it
calls attention to the sacrament of marriage and
includes items such as a crystal container of
Eucharistic wafers. The scales could easily
symbolize the Last Judgment.
Figure 20-14
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15th Century Flemish Art
Jan van Eyck, Man in a Red Turban 1433, Oil on
wood National Gallery, London
Meeting the Viewers Gaze
Completely secular painting without a layer of
religious interpretation. This absence of
religious meaning was very uncommon in Flemish
painting in this time. Believed to be a
self-portrait, it shows that this man required no
religious purpose for being, only a personal one.
Private portraiture began to multiply as both
artists and patrons became interested in the
reality they revealed. The man in the painting
looks directly at the viewers, perhaps like he
was looking in the mirror. This was the 1st
western portrait in a thousand years to have
this. The man in the painting has a level,
composed gaze, directed from a three-quarter head
pose, which showed that this man was very
impressive in his day. At any angle you look at
the painting, it looks like it is staring right
back at you. (much like the Mona Lisa)
Figure 20-15
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15th Century Flemish Art
Rogier Van Der Weyden, Portrait of a
Lady 1460 National Gallery, Washington D.C.
Capturing Class and Character
The commission details for Rogier van der
Weydens portraits of an unknown young lady
remain unclear. Her dress and bearing imply noble
rank. The artist provided viewers with a portrait
that not only presented a faithful likeness of
her somewhat plain features but also revealed her
individual character. Her lowered eyes, tightly
locked thin fingers, and fragile physique bespeak
an introverted and devout personality. Rogiers
honestly and directness, typical in the Flemish
artists approach, reveal much, despite the
womans reserved demeanor. This style
contrasted with the formal Italian approach
derived from the profiles common to coins and
medallions, which was sterner and conveyed little
of the sitters personality. Rogier was perhaps
chief among the Flemish in his penetrating
readings of his subjects, and as a great
pictorial composer, he made beautiful use here of
flat, sharply pointed angular shapes that so
powerfully suggest the rigidity of this subjects
personality. He placed little emphasis on minute
description of surface detail. Instead, he
defined large, simple planes and volumes,
achieving an almost abstract effect.
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15th Century Flemish Art
Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights.
1505-1510 Museo del Prado, Madrid
Love and Marriage or Sex and Sin?
Hieronymous Bosch is considered to be one of the
most fascinating and puzzling painters in
history. Was he a satirist, an irreligious
mocker, a pornographer? Was he obsessed by guilt
and the universal reign of sin and death? This
particular painting is Boschs most enigmatic,
and no interpretation of it is universally
accepted. The large scale painting takes the
familiar form of the tripych, and extends more
than twelve feet wide and seven feet tall. The
tripych form indicates a religious function, yet
documentation reveals that this image resided in
the palace of Henry III of Nassau, regent of the
Netherlands, seven years after its completion
(suggesting private use)
The left panel depicts God presenting Eve to Adam
in a landscape, presumably the Garden of Eden.
Bosh complicated his straightforward presentation
of this event by placing it in a wildly
imaginative setting that includes an odd pink
fountain-like structure in a body of water and an
array of fanciful and unusual animals, which may
hint at an interpretation involving alchemy-- the
medieval study of seemingly magical changes,
especially chemical changes.
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15th Century Flemish Art
Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights.
1505-1510 Museo del Prado, Madrid
Love and Marriage or Sex and Sin?
Sandwiched between Paradise and Hell is the huge
central panel, with nude people blithely
cavorting in a landscape dotted with bizarre
creatures and unidentifiable objects. The
prevalence of fruit and birds (fertility symbols)
throughout the scene suggests procreation, and ,
indeed, many of the figures are paired off as
couples. The orgiastic overtones of the
painting, in conjunction with the terrifying
images of Hell, have led some scholars to
interpret this triptych, like other Last Judgment
images, as a warning to the viewers of the fate
awaiting the sinful, decadent, and immoral.
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15th Century Flemish Art
Hieronymus Bosch, Hell, from the Garden of
Earthly Delights. 1505-1510 Museo del Prado,
Madrid
Love and Marriage or Sex and Sin?
The right panel, in contrast, bombards the
viewers with the horrors of Hell. Beastly
creatures devour people, while others are impaled
or strung on musical instruments. A gambler is
nailed to his own table. A spidery monster
embraces a girl while toads bite her. A sea of
inky darkness envelops the entire range of
horror. Observers must search through the
hideous enclosure of Boschs Hell to take in its
fascinating through repulsive details.
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