Gardner's Art through the Ages,
Concise Edition by Fred Kleiner
Chapter Eight
Europe, 1400-1500
Prepared by
Kelly Donahue-Wallace
Randal Wallace
University of North Texas
Northern Europe
Dates and Places:
• 1400 to 1500
• Burgundy, Flanders,
France and the Holy
Roman Empire
People:
• Nobles and merchants
• Pious and prosperous
• Interested in visible world
CLAUS SLUTER, Well of
Moses, 1395–1406. Fig. 8-2.
Northern Europe
Themes:
• Life of the Virgin Mary, Christ
• Secular images, portraits
• Disguised symbolism
Forms:
• Detailed renderings of
surfaces and textures
• Naturalistic figures and
spaces
• Oil paint for glowing color
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN,
Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin,
ca. 1435–1440. Fig. 8-7.
Flanders
Example:
• Secular portrait
communicated
religious values
• Merchant home
• Disguised symbolism
• Description of surfaces
• Reflections of light
• Artist’s signature and
reflection in mirror
JAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini
and His Bride, 1434. Fig. 8-1.
• Symbolic candle - The solitary flame burning can be
interpreted as the bridal candle, or God's all-seeing eye, or
simply as a devotional candle.
• Another symbol is St Margaret (the patron saint of women in
childbirth), whose image is carved on the high chairback.
• The Marriage Bed
• The Mirror- God’s all seeing eye
• An elaborate signature As today, marriages in 15th-century
Flanders could take place privately rather than in church. Van
Eyck's Latin signature, in the Gothic calligraphy used for legal
documents, reads: ``Jan van Eyck was present'', and has
been interpreted by some as an indication that the artist
himself served as a witness.
Flanders
Example:
• Annunciation in
common domestic
interior
• Disguised symbolism
• Donor portraits
• For home use
• Triptych
• Oil paint, glazes
ROBERT CAMPIN (Master of
Flémalle), Mérode Altarpiece, ca.
1425–1428. Fig. 8-3.
Flanders
Example:
• Polyptych for narrative
sequence
• Monumental, freestanding altarpiece
• Donor portraits
• Descriptive naturalism
• Redemption (with
Adam and Eve for
Fall)
JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece,
1432. Fig. 8-5.
Flanders
Example:
• Dynamic composition
with action and drama
• Cohesive composition
through movement
• Commission for guild
• Emotional expression
• Descriptive naturalism
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN,
Deposition, ca. 1435. Fig. 8-6.
France
Example:
• Book of Hours for private
patron
• Illusionistic treatment of
space
• Luxury item
• Genre- Scenes of daily
life, identifiable settings
• Painting by secular artists,
not monks
• Depicts nobility, peasantry
and seasonal tasks
LIMBOURG BROTHERS, Les Très
Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
1413–1416. Fig. 8-9.
Holy Roman Empire
Example:
• Print, engraving –incised
copperplate, inked and
wiped, copper rolled over
to print onto paper.
• Cross-hatches for shading
• Surface description of
textures
• Printing responds to rise
in literacy and improved
economy
MARTIN SCHONGAUER,
Saint Anthony Tormented
by Demons,
ca. 1480–1490. Fig. 8-12.
Italy
Dates and Places:
• 1400-1500
• Independent courts on
the Italian peninsula
People:
• Humanism
• Revival of classical
learning
• Self-aggrandizing
patrons
LORENZO GHIBERTI, Sacrifice of
Isaac, 1401–1402. Fig. 8-14.
Italy
Themes:
• Life of Christ and the
Virgin Mary
• Secular life
• Classical themes
Forms:
• Linear perspective
• Classical forms
• Optical naturalism
• Window onto the
world
PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA,
Flagellation of Christ, ca.
1455–1465. Fig. 8-35.
Italy
Example:
• Civic commission
• Bronze doors of
baptistery
• Linear perspective
• Aerial perspective
• Classical models
• Story-telling narrative
clarity
LORENZO GHIBERTI, Gates of
Paradise, 1425–1452. Fig. 8-15.
Italy
Example:
• First nude sculpture
since antiquity
• Bronze cast sculpture
• Civic symbol of
Florence
• Private patron (Medici)
• Sensuous
contrapposto for calm
hero
DONATELLO, David, ca. 1440–1460.
Fig. 8-19.
Italy
Example:
• Public monument
• Bronze equestrian
portrait
• Modeled after Marcus
Aurelius
• Contemporary
condottiere dressed
as Roman general
• Image of strength and
power
DONATELLO, Gattamelata,
ca. 1445–1453.
Fig. 8-20.
Italy
Example:
• Fresco in church, donor
portraits
• Applies linear perspective
based on location of
viewer’s eye
• Illusionistic extension of
viewer’s space
• Classical architectural
vocabulary
MASACCIO, Holy Trinity, ca.
1424–1427. Fig. 8-23.
Italy
Example:
• Master of line
• Based on poem by
humanist
• Created for Medici
• Mythology
• Venus inspired by
classical sculpture
• Revival of female
nude
SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus,
ca. 1484–1486. Fig. 8-27.
Italy
Example:
• Powerful patron
• Rustication on lower
level
• Dressed masonry above
• Heavy cornice at top
• Plan organized around
interior court with roundarched colonnade
• Clarity and rationality of
Renaissance forms
MICHELOZZO DI
BARTOLOMMEO, Palazzo MediciRiccardi, 1445. Fig. 8-31.
Italy
Example:
• Architectural theorist
• Treatise presents rules
of Renaissance
architecture
• Application of classical
elements
• Temple frontal, scrolls
• Proportional
relationships
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI, Santa
Maria Novella, Florence, 1456–
1470. Fig. 8-33.
Italy
Example:
• For princely court
• Temple frontal and
triumphal arch
• Proportional
relationships mean
façade too short
• Interior coffered barrel
vault
• Colossal order pilasters
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI,
Sant’Andrea, Mantua, 1470.
Fig. 8-36.
Italy
Example:
• For princely patron
• Propaganda
• Images of court life
• Pictorial illusionism
• Trompe l’oeil oculus
painted di sotto in su
• Unified perspectival
space
ANDREA MANTEGNA, Camera Picta,
1465–1474. Fig. 8-38.