2 - Bruges and Flanders

 Zie ook:

Bruges and Flanders  City by city The Renaissance north of the Alps exploring northern Renaissance cities, artists and patrons art historian Jo Walton ~ The National Gallery

Bruges and Florence were two of the most important trading cities in Europe in the 15th century. Through the international textile trade (especially wool) both cities became extremely rich and prosperous, with strong links through commerce and finance.

Merchants such as the Medici, based in Florence, had offices and branches in Bruges and used their links in the city to buy and commission works by local artists, which were then shipped to Italy. While artists in each city were, seemingly, creating very different works, there was a mutual interest in ideas, techniques and skills. 

The rise of Bruges as an international centre was at the expense of Paris. In the early 1400s, Paris was the largest city in Europe, with over 200,000 inhabitants. It boasted a highly sophisticated market for luxury goods, especially manuscript illuminations, embroidery, ivory carving and goldwork, and one of the most prestigious universities in Europe. However, outbreaks of plague and civil unrest, coupled with famine and regular military incursions into northern France by English armies, made the situation in the city precarious. The intermittent madness of the French king, Charles VI, made effective government increasingly difficult and the prestige of the city declined rapidly. 

From the 1420s the cities of the Low Countries (what we now think of as The Netherlands and Belgium) took over as a creative centre, with Ghent, Brussels and – most of all – Bruges welcoming huge numbers of artists and craftsmen. 

 The Dukes of Burgundy, who controlled this area and the lands to the south as far as Dijon and beyond, were famous collectors and delightedly encouraged the creating of paintings, sculptures, tapestries, manuscripts, goldwork and stained glass. 

In 1425, Duke Philip the Good personally employed 180 artists and craftsmen to prepare embroideries, hangings and suitable decorations for horses and pavilions in preparation for a duel he intended to fight against Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester – the brother of the English king Henry V and himself a noted collector. (Duke Humphrey, a scholar and humanist, bequeathed to Oxford University a large number of precious manuscripts and his name lives on in the title of the oldest reading room in Oxford’s Bodleian Library – Duke Humphrey’s Library). That duel never took place, but the ability of the Duke and his successors to call on the skills of such a wide range of artists heightened their prestige as well as strengthened the economy of this busy and mercantile province.

1. Bruges – View of the Rozenhoedkaai, with the Belfry in the Background 

2. Map of the sea and land trade routes in fifteenth-century Europe, with a map of the extent of the Burgundian Netherlands 

3. The Dukes of Burgundy, from 1364 to 1482. Philip the Bold, John the Fearless, Philip the Good, Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy 

4. Anon, The ‘Goldenes Rossl’ (trans. The White Horse of Gold), c.1400. Altotting Church, Bavaria 

 5. The Limbourg Brothers, July and February from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416. Musée du Chateaux de Conde, Chantilly 

6. The Limbourg Brothers, January from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413– 1416. Musée du Chateaux de Conde, Chantilly 

The altarpiece is as eloquent on the mysteries of painting as on the mysteries of the Christian faith. In a panel forming part of the Annunciation the fictive stone frame becomes a window to a world beyond our own, leading our eye to another window, through which we can see a bustling Ghent street scene. It is so tiny that it could never have been intended to be seen: perhaps for Van Eyck, it was enough just to know it was there.

7. Jan van Eyck, Detail of town view from the Ghent Altarpiece, 1432. St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent

8. Robert Campin (The Master of Flemalle), The Entombment (The Seilern Triptych), 1410–20. The Courtauld Institute, London

9. Robert Campin, The Annunciation Triptych (The Merode Altar), 1427-32. The Metropolitan Museum, New York 

10. Robert Campin, The Nativity, 1435. Musée des Beaux Arts, Dijon     → 

11. A Follower of Robert Campin, The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen, c.1440. National Gallery, London 

12. Workshop of Robert Campin (Jacques Daret?), The Virgin and Child in an Interior, before 1432. National Gallery, London 

13. Hubert and Jan van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece (The Adoration of the Lamb), 1432. St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent

14. Hubert and Jan van Eyck, The Ghent Altarpiece – Adam and Eve, 1432. St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent 

15. Masolino da Panicale, Adam and Eve (The Brancacci Chapel), 1428. Church of the Carmine, Florence 

16. Jan van Eyck, The Madonna with Chancellor Rolin, 1435. Musée du Louvre, Paris 

17. Jan van Eyck, The Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele,1436. The Groeningen Museum, Bruges 

18. Jan van Eyck, Saint Barbara, 1437. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, (KMSKA), Antwerp 

19. Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434. National Gallery, London 

20. Petrus Christus, A Goldsmith in his Shop, 1449. The Metropolitan Museum, New York

UNDERSTANDING PETRUS CHRISTUS’

​A GOLDSMITH IN HIS SHOP 

On the far right stands a gold and glass vessel, with a pelican at its apex pricking its breast to feed its young, a traditional depiction of self-sacrifice, reflecting the fate of Christ; it was possibly used for relics or consecrated wafers . Hanging from a nail are two fossilised shark teeth; these were believed to detect poison by changing colour on contact (these were sometimes referred to as “serpents’ tongues”).

Zie ook:

Vreemde vogels in de kerk

 On the viewer’s right, a cleverly-placed convex mirror reflects the street outside with the characteristically red-brick facades of Bruges houses, and a gentleman and his falconer standing looking into the shop. As the falcon was sometimes suggestive of pride (as was a mirror), it’s possible that Christus was reminding us here of the imperfections of the outside world, in contrast to the supposedly admirable virtue of the betrothedcouple. 

Christus’s use the mirror to create this trick of perspective enables the viewer to simultaneously see what lies before her/ him (the goldsmith) and what lies behind (the falconer and the city). Christus’ highly-influential predecessor, Jan van Eyck, was similarly interested in exploring the depiction of convincing perspective (and of meticulous detail), and used a similar device in his famous Arnolfini Wedding. In that painting, the convex mirror – this time situated behind the betrothed couple -- enables the viewer to see both the front and back of the couple (and the reflection of the otherwise unseen artist).

BRUGES AS AN ARTISTIC CENTRE

It's very fitting that this city should be the setting for a painting that extolled the importance of a goldsmith. Christus had probably settled there in the 1440s, at a time when the city was successfully recovering from a period of social and political turmoil [16]. Bruges was an attractive option because of its financial and commercial prosperity, the possibility of lucrative commissions from the regular presence of the ducal court, and the tastes of luxury-loving local businessmen who were a major source of artistic patronage [17]. Immigrants in fact comprised almost a third of all artists working in Bruges in this era (including van Eyck, Hans Memling and Gerard David) and similar considerations attracted other specialised skilled craftspeople such as furriers, hatters, jewellers and – of course -- goldsmiths.

21. Rogier van der Weyden, The Descent from the Cross, 1435. Museo del Prado, Madrid  (detail)

Jungfrau Maria, aus der Beweinung 

22. Niccolo dell’Arca, The Lamentation, c.1462-63. The Church of Santa Maria della Vita, Bologna →

23. Simone Martini, The Lamentation and Deposition, c. 1337. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin 

24. Rogier van der Weyden, The Miraflores Triptych, 1440. Staatliche Museen, Berlin 

25. Rogier van der Weyden and workshop, The Exhumation of Saint Hubert, late 1430s. National Gallery, London

26. Rogier van der Weyden, St Luke Drawing the Virgin Mary, 1435–40. Groeningen Museum, Bruges 

27. Rogier van der Weyden, The Last Judgement, 1446–52. Musée de l’Hôtel-Dieu, Beaune 

28. Fra Angelico, The Last Judgement, 1431. Museo di San Marco, Florence 

29. Dirk Bouts, The Last Supper, 1466–67. Sint Pieterskerk, Leuven 

30. Andrea del Castagno, The Last Supper, 1447. Church of Sant’Apollonia, Florence

31. Dirk Bouts, The Entombment, c.1450s. National Gallery, London 

32. Hans Memling, Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove, 1487. Groeningen Museum, Bruges 

33. Hans Memling, The Donne Triptych, c.1478. National Gallery, London 

34. Hans Memling, The Last Judgement, 1467–72. National Museum of Art, Gdansk 

35. Hans Memling, The Shrine of St Ursula, 1489. St John’s Hospital Museum, Bruges ↑ →

36. Hans Memling, Tommaso Portinari and his Wife, 1470. The Metropolitan Museum, New York 

37. Hugo van der Goes, The Portinari Altarpiece, 1475. The Uffizi Gallery, Florence 

38. Domenico Ghirlandaio, The Adoration of the Shepherds, 1482–85. Church of Santa Trinita, Florence