Early Northern Post

15th Century
Northern European Art

Sluter executed at the end of the fourteenth century a large fountain (called Well of Moses) in the Carthusian monastery (Chartreuse de Champmol). The monastery was intended to be the burying place of the Prince of Burgundy, Philip the Bold and his family. The monastery was destroyed during the French revolution, but the hexagonal base with the figures of the six prophets who had foreseen the death of Christ on the Cross (Moses, David, Jeremiah, Zachariah, Daniel and Isaiah) survived.
Claus Sluter
Well of Moses
1395 - 1406

Unfinished Calendar Page
January
The Très Riches Heures is the classic example of a medieval book of hours. This was a collection of the text for each liturgical hour of the day - hence the name - which often included other, supplementary, texts. Calendars, prayers, psalms and masses for certain holy days were commonly included.

Northern Renaissance 15th Century
Limbourg Brothers, October
From a Book of Hours
Top: paired signs of the zodiac: Libra & Scorpio
Divide between peasant class in foreground and ruling nobility in castle in background
Peasants work at farm routines
Very detailed observation of nature: from birds eating the seed to the shadows cast by the horse
Sumptuous colors
1411-16

Campin, Mérode Altarpiece
Donors at left: grave, sedate, middle class, witness a holy event
In center: Annunciation scene
Domestication of religious scenes, no haloes
Water and water basin as a baptism symbol
Candle just snuffed out: divine light puts out human light
Candles have a phallic connotation; extinguished candle: consummation of marriage
Lilies: Mary’s purity
Three flowers indicate the Trinity, one bud: Christ as yet unborn
Virgin on floor: her humility
Virgin blocks off entrance to hell, symbolically the fireplace
At right: Joseph in his workshop
Outside, a view of a Flemish city, with a mousetrap for sale in the window; mousetrap as symbol of Christ ensnaring the devil
Thin figures, sinuous curves of drapery
Microscopic sense of surface detail

Robert Campin (1425-28)

Jan van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece
Outside wings: theme of salvation
Figures sit in small niches, claustrophobic
Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist done in grisaille; both patron saints of Ghent
Extreme realism of figures, cf. donors
Many detailed surfaces from stubble on beard to leaves on trees
Inscriptions denote Christ’s coming
Donors kneel in Gothic frames
Flemish landscape is revealed in background

Inside:
No attempt to idealize figures, as in Adam and Eve
Hierarchy of scale of figures
God the Father enthroned wearing the Pope’s tiara flanked by Mary and John the Baptist, then the angels, then Adam and Eve
Sacrifice of Christ symbolized by the Lamb bleeding on the altar in the lower central panel
The case that housed the altarpiece is now lost

Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini and His Bride
Wedding symbolism in painting
Dog as symbol of fidelity
Slippers cast off symbolizing standing on holy ground; slippers also served as traditional wedding gifts
One candle in the chandelier symbolizes one act of intercourse
Candle burns all night on first night of wedding
Bed curtains are open, revealing marriage bed
Bride pulls up dress as an allusion to a wife’s role as child bearer
Saint Margaret: patron saint of childbirth on the bed headboard
Painting signed and dated: “Jan van Eyck was here 1434”
Tiny medallions surrounding mirror depict Passion of Christ
Priest not necessary for a wedding, only two witnesses who appear in the mirror
Figures are extremely pale, very richly robed
Attention to detail, light, texture and luster

The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami; 1434 (130 Kb); Oil on wood, 81.8 x 59.7 cm (32 1/4 x 23 1/2 in); National Gallery, London

Van der Goes, Portinari Altarpiece
Painted in Bruges, installed on altar of a Florentine church attached to the city’s largest hospital
Virgin represents alleviation of suffering
Oddly different sizes of figures
Solemn grandeur
Shepherds in wonder, gazing in curiosity
Wheat, serving as the bed for the Christ Child, is a Eucharistic symbol
Painted for a church associated with a maternity hospital in Florence
Mary as the great mother of childbirth
Flowers are symbolic of suffering: scarlet lily, white and purple irises, Mary’s suffering in childbirth, Christ’s suffering on the Cross
Many of the flowers were known for their healing properties, appropriate for hospital setting of work
Background left wing: Mary’s pregnant state revealed as Joseph helps her
Christ: tiny and frail newborn
Margaret: patron saint of childbirth on right panel with female donors
Left panel: male donors and saints

Hugo van der Goes, c. 1436-1482 (Flem.),

Van der Weyden, Escorial Deposition
No deep landscape, figures on a shallow stage, silhouetted against a gold ground
Dynamically curved composition
Strong emotional impact on the observer, particularly in the tear-streaked face of swooning Mary
Dramatic stress
Zigzag rhythm and profiles
Parallel relationships in positioning of the figures: Mary and Christ, the two figures holding them, and the two end figures
Brilliantly colored

Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights
Left: Garden of Eden with God and Adam and Eve
Center: Garden of Earthly Delights: a treacherous peril-filled paradise
Right: Hell
Reverse: the earth in a glass globe, surrounded by water
Four panels are an allusion to the four states of alchemy: bringing together of opposites, unification of elements in a balanced whole, purging in a fire and rinsing clean
Also an allusion to the Four Ages of Man
Filmy transparent surface
People are soft and boneless, glowing, have no dignity or power
High horizons get as much detail in the paintings as possible
Humans are without individuality, have no will, follow trends, are a helpless tool in the power of greater forces
Sexual scenes suggested, commonly understood Flemish symbols of lust include the birds and berries

Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights (continued)
Behind Eve is a rabbit, indicating how she will reproduce
Central panels has phallic symbols, as in the spiky towers and the pond in the center
Arrangements suggest the consequences of a sinful life
Many of the consequence of the middle panel are graphically exposed in the right panel
Compositional elements continue from one panel to another: horizontal line through each scene

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Early Northern Post

by bassmanb on Dec 09, 2009

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Early Northern Post — Presentation Transcript