74. Antonio Puccio Pisanello, 1395–1455, International Gothic, Italian, The Vision of Saint Eustace, 1438–1442. Tempera on panel, 54.8 × 65.5 cm, National Gallery, London
Pisanello has carefully studied the animals in this painting, using both drawings from pattern books as well as studies from life.
75. Giovanni di Paolo, 1403–1482, Early Renaissance, Sienese School, Italian, Madonna of Humility, c. 1442. Tempera on panel, 62 × 48.8 cm, Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Marie Antoinette Evans Fund, Boston
76. Fra Giovanni Angelico, 1378–1445, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Noli Me Tangere, 1440–1441, Fresco, 180 × 146 cm, Convento di
San Marco, Florence
77. Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle), c. 1375–1444, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Virgin and Child before a Firescreen, c. 1440. Tempera on oak, 63.4 × 48.5 cm, National Gallery, London
Robert Campin of Tournai is also called the ‘Master of Flémalle’, because three paintings now in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut were wrongly supposed to have come from Flémalle. Together with van Eyck, he may be considered the founder of the Netherlandish painting of the Early Renaissance. The Virgin seems somehow clumsy, almost plebeian. The halo is replaced by the fire screen, which testifies of the homely detail and down-to-earth realism of the artist.
78. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399–1464, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, St Luke Drawing the Virgin, c.1440, Oil on canvas, 138.6 × 111.5 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
St Luke the Apostle, who is the accredited author of one of the four accepted versions of the New Testament Gospel, is also by tradition the first painter of the Virgin’s portrait. Rogier van der Weyden kept up this tradition in his own picture of St Luke Drawing the Virgin. This meticulously detailed work, typical of the Flemish tradition, shows Mary seated under a canopy as she attempts to nurse her infant, and Luke in front of her, drawing her face. A panoramic view can be seen between the columns in the background. Nursing-Madonna images had been part of the Marian tradition and lore since the Middle Ages. “Mary’s milk“ had, indeed, been a source of veneration in the form of a miracle-working substance regarded as one among many holy relics during medieval times, and reverence for it lasted well into Renaissance times. The origins of such a tradition and symbolism go back several thousands of years into antiquity, when Creator Goddesses like Isis were celebrated as symbolic milk-givers in their roles as compassionate and nurturing Universal Mothers. The milky ribbon of stars called the Milky Way was believed to symbolise the Goddess, and Marian lore inherited that popular tradition.
Rogier van der Weyden
(1399 Tournai, Flanders – 1464 Brussels)
He lived in Brussels where he was the city’s official painter (from 1436), but his influence was felt throughout Europe. One sponsor was Philip the Good, an avid collector. Van der Weyden is the only Fleming who truly carried on van Eyck’s great conception of art. He added to it a pathos of which there is no other example in his country except, though with less power and nobility, that of Hugo van der Goes towards the end of the century. He had a considerable influence on the art of Flanders and Germany. Hans Memling was his most renowned pupil. Van der Weyden was the last inheritor of the Giottesque tradition and the last of the painters whose work is thoroughly religious.
79. Konrad Witz, c. 1400–1445, International Gothic, Swiss, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1444, Oil on panel, 129 × 155 cm, Museum of Art and History, Geneva
80. Piero della Francesca, c. 1416–1492, Early Renaissance, Italian, The Baptism of Christ, 1445. Tempera on panel, 167 × 116 cm, National Gallery, London
The suspended dove symbolising the Holy Spirit is at the exact middle point of the circle implied in the upper part of the painting, while the navel of Jesus is the mid-point of the rectangle implied at the bottom portion of the painting. The upper mid-point alludes to the divinity of Jesus, while the lower mid-point relates to his humanity. The God-man is at geometric centre of the scene. The vertical balance is likewise between the heavenly angels on the left and the earthly community on the right. The latter includes a follower of the Baptist who is either getting dressed after his own baptism or preparing to be baptised. The group watching probably represents the sceptics or the undecided. Sansepolero, in northern Italy, was the hometown of the artist and the sponsor of most of the artist’s mature works. In the tradition of such commissions, the sponsor appears in the painting. The town is pictured in the distance between Jesus and the left vertical third of the painting. Young plants in the foreground indicate new life, as the rebirth offered by baptism would symbolise thereafter for Christians. The Hebrew bible had predicted that the ones who prepared the way for the Lord would make the crooked straight, symbolised here as the river and roads in the landscape. All the roads and rivers lead to the feet of The Way, the name the seminal Christian community gave their religion as well as a descriptive title for their Messiah.
81. Domenico Veneziano, 1400–1461, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Madonna with Child and Saints, 1445. Tempera on wood, 209 × 216 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Painted for the high altar of the Uzzano in Santa Lucia dei Magnoli, this is perhaps Veneziano’s greatest achievement. Veneziano, renowned for his use of perspective and colour, depicts the “sacra conversazione” within an harmonious architectural structure rendered more delicate by pastel shades of rose and green.
82. Petrus Christus, c.1410–1473, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Portrait of a Young Girl, after 1446, Oil on panel, 29 × 22.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Alte Meister, Berlin
The most popular painting by Christus, this portrait is composed of simple volumes. The painter places the sitter in a defined setting, new to Flemish painting, which was traditionally depicted with a neutral, dark background (such as in van Eyck’s and van der Weyden’s portraits).
83. Andrea del Castagno, 1446–1497, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Last Supper and above Resurrection, Crucifixion and Entombment, c. 1445–50, Fresco, 980 × 1025 cm, Convent of Sant’Apollonia, Florence
84. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399–1464, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Triptych: St. John Altarpiece (right panel), c. 1446–53, Oil on oak panel, 77 × 48 cm (each panel), Gemäldegalerie, Alte Meister, Berlin
Van der Weyden gives a particularly strong effect of depth in the side panels of this Altarpiece, with the succession of rooms in the background.
85. Jean Fouquet, c. 1420–1481, Early Renaissance, French, Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels (right panel of Meulun’s diptych), c. 1450, Oil on panel, 91 × 81 cm, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp
The particularity of this painting is due to its geometric composition, set in a convex pentagon often used by Fouquet. The volume given accentuates the sculptural aspect of this Virgin whose face was inspired by Agnes Sorel (the mistress of Charles VII). The diptych assembles the portrait of a Virgin with the one of the patrons in prayer in front of his protector saint.
Jean