Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,
13e
Chapter 20
Northern Europe,
1400 to 1500
1
Europe in the 15th Century
2
Goals
• Understand the effect of political power in the development of
Northern European art.
• Examine the variety and types of media used in art in this period.
• Identify specific artists, their respective styles, and their key works
of art.
• Understand the integration of sacred and secular power and
wealth, along with its resultant display in art.
3
The Art of France and Flanders
• Examine the effect of political power on the sumptuous art
forms that developed in the 15th Century.
• Examine the results of Burgundian wealth and largesse
directed to art.
• Understand the growth of public devotional art, the artists,
new art media and new illusionistic devices developed.
4
The Very Sumptuous Hours
• Examine the sumptuous art forms that developed in the 15th
Century.
• Explore French manuscript illumination and the new spatial
and illusionistic devices used in art.
5
Figure 20-15 LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, JEAN,
HERMAN), January, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de
Berry, 1413–1416. Ink on vellum, approx. 8 7/8" X 5 3/8".
Musée Condé, Chantilly.
6
Figure 20-16 LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, JEAN,
HERMAN), October, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
1413–1416. Ink on vellum, 8 7/8" X 5 3/8”. Musée Condé,
Chantilly.
7
20-16A MASTER OF MARY OF BURGUNDY, Mary of Burgundy at Prayer, folios 14 verso and 15 recto of the Hours of Mary of
Burgundy, ca. 1480. Colors and ink on parchment, illumination on left page 7 3/8” X 5 1/8”. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek,
Vienna.
8
Figure 20-2 CLAUS SLUTER, Well of
Moses, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon,
France, 1395–1406. Limestone with traces
of paint, Moses 6’ high.
9
20-2A CLAUS SLUTER, Virgin and Child, saints, and donors, portal of the chapel of the Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon,
France, 1385–1393.
10
Figure 20-3 MELCHIOR BROEDERLAM, Retable de
Champmol. from the chapel oft he Chartreuse de Champmol,
Dijon, France, installed 1399. Oil on wood, each wing 5’ 5 3/4”
X 4’ 1 1/4”. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon.
11
Figure 20-4 ROBERT CAMPIN (MASTER OF FLEMALLE), Merode Altarpiece (open), ca. 1425-1428. Oil
on wood, center panel 2’ 1 3/8” X 2’ 7/8”, each wing 2’ 1 3/8” X 10 7/8”. Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York (The Cloisters Collection, 1956).
12
Burgundian Wealth and Art
• Understand the need for sacred sculpture and new sacred art.
• Examine the growth of devotional altarpieces, the media, and
individual artists.
13
Figure 20-5 JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece
(closed), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium,
completed 1432. Oil on wood, 11’ 6" X 7’ 6".
14
20-5A JAN VAN EYCK, Madonna in a Church, ca. 1425–1430.
Oil on wood, 1’ 1/4" X 5 1/2". Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin, Berlin.
15
Figure 20-6 JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece (open), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432. Oil on wood,
11’ 5" X 15’ 1”.
16
Figure 20-8 ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Deposition, center panel of a triptych from Notre-Dame hors-les-murs, Louvain,
Belgium, ca. 1435. Oil on wood, 7’ 2 5/8" X 8’ 7 1/8". Museo del Prado, Madrid.
17
20-8A ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Last Judgment Altarpiece (open), polyptych from Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune, France, ca. 1444–
1448. Oil on wood, 7’ 4 5/8” X 17’ 11”. Musée de l’Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune.
18
Figure 20-9 ROGIER VAN DER
WEYDEN, Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin,
ca. 1435-1440. Oil and tempera on
wood, 4’ 6 1/8” X 3’ 7 5/8”. Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston. (Gift of Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Lee Higginson)
19
20.2 Flemish Public and Private Devotional
Art
• Examine the large numbers of private and public devotional
art created at this time.
• Identify specific artists, their respective styles and their key
works of art.
• Understand the relationship between religious and secular
authority in the development of art.
• Examine the rise of portraiture and self-portraits.
20
Flemish Public Devotional Art
• Examine the complex illusionary images of the Flemish
artists, especially noting the development of a single
vanishing point.
21
Figure 20-12 DIRK BOUTS, Last
Supper central panel of the Altarpiece of the
Holy Sacrament, Saint Peter’s, Louvain,
Belgium, 1464–1468. Oil on wood, 6’ X
5’.
22
20-12A DIRK BOUTS, Wrongful Beheading of the Count and Justice of Otto III, from the Stadhuis, Louvain, Belgium, ca. 1470–1475.
Oil on wood, each panel 12’ 11” X 6’ 7 1/2". Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels.
23
Figure 20-13 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.
24
Figure 20-14 HANS MEMLING, Virgin with Saints and Angels, center panel of the Saint John Altarpiece, Hospitaal Sint Jan, Bruges,
Belgium, 1479. Oil on wood, 5’ 7 3/4" X 5’ 7 3/4" (center panel), 5’ 7 3/4" X 2’ 7 1/8" (each wing).
25
20-14A HANS MEMLING, Tommaso Portinari and Maria Baroncelli, ca. 1470. Oil on wood, each panel 1’ 5 3/8” X 1’ 1 3/8”.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913).
26
20-14B HANS MEMLING, Diptych of Martin van Nieuwenhove, 1487. Oil on wood, each panel 1’ 5 3/8” X 1’ 1”.
Memlingmuseum, Bruges.
27
Private Images
• Examine the private devotional art created at this time.
• Understand the illusionistic devices in painting, the
atmosphere of the private home, and the attention to
symbolism.
28
Figure 20-1 JAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini
and His Bride, 1434. Oil on wood, approx. 2’ 9" X
1’ 10 1/2". National Gallery, London.
29
Figure 20-11 PETRUS CHRISTUS,
A Goldsmith in His Shop, 1449. Oil on
wood, approx. 3’ 3" X 2’ 10".
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York (the Robert Lehman Collection,
1975).
30
Portraiture and the Growing Interest in
Secular Art
• Examine the rise of portraiture and self-portraits and the
social and economic factors that made portraiture desirable.
31
Figure 20-7 JAN VAN EYCK, Man in a Red
Turban, 1433. Oil on wood, 1’ 1 1/8” X 10
1/4". National Gallery, London.
32
Figure 20-10 ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN,
Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1460. Oil on panel, 1’ 1 3/8" X
10 1/16". National Gallery, Washington, D.C.
(Andrew W. Mellon Collection).
33
15th Century French and German Art
• Understand the royal court art in France and the integration
of the sacred and the secular in art.
• Examine the art that developed in Germany and in the Holy
Roman Empire.
• Comprehend the variety and types of media used in art in
this period.
• Identify specific artists, their respective styles, and their key
works of art.
• Examine the development of graphic art, especially in
Germany in the 15th Century.
34
French Sacred and Secular Art
• Understand royal court art and the integration of the sacred
and the secular.
• Identify specific artists, their styles, media and works of art.
35
Figure 20-17 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) ca. 1451. Oil on wood, 3’ 1 1/4” X 2’ 9
1/2”. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp.
36
15th Century German Art
• Examine the art patronage interest in private piety and
familiar themes.
• Identify specific artists, styles and works of art.
37
Figure 20-20 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.
38
20-20A STEFAN LOCHNER, Madonna in the Rose Garden, ca. 1440. Oil on wood, 1’ 7 7/8” X 1’ 3 3/4". Wallraf-RichartzMuseum, Cologne.
39
Figure 20-18 VEIT STOSS, The Death and
Assumption of the Virgin (wings open), altar of the
Virgin Mary, church of Saint Mary, Kraków, Poland,
1477–1489. Painted and gilded wood, central panel
23’ 9” high.
40
Figure 20-19 TILMAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER, The
Assumption of the Virgin, center panel of the Creglingen Altarpiece,
Herrgottskirche, Creglingen, Germany, ca. 1495–1499.
Lindenwood, 6’ 1” wide.
41
Development of Graphic Arts
• Examine the development of graphic arts, especially in
Germany in the 15th Century.
• Understand the processes that were developed in relief and
intaglio printmaking.
42
Figure 20-21 MICHEL WOLGEMUT and shop,
Tarvisium, page from the so-called Nuremberg Chronicle,
1493. Woodcut,1’ 2” X 9”. Printed by ANTON
KOBERGER.
43
20-21A Buxheim Saint Christopher, 1423. Handcolored woodcut, 11 3/8” X 8 1/8”. John
Rylands University Library, University of
Manchester, Manchester.
44
Figure 20-22 MARTIN SCHONGAUER, Saint
Anthony Tormented by Demons, ca. 1480–1490.
Engraving, 1’ 1/4" X 9". Fondazione Magnani
Rocca, Corte di Mamiano.
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Discussion Questions
 What were some of the most important innovations in art
media and spatial techniques at this time?
 How does the court and wealthy merchant patronage shape
the content and appearance of religious and secular art?
 Why does the portrait – absent in art for nearly 1000 years
– return in this period?
46