15thc. in Northern Europe Questions Flashcards
Describe Ghent Altarpiece (closed)
- Jan and Hubert van Eyck. Oil on panel.
- present the Annunciation with Gabriel and Virgin on opposite sides of an upper room that overlooks city.
- Old Testament prophets and seers foretell coming of Christ.
- Below, donors are portrayed beside statues of the church’s patron saints (John the Baptist and John the Evangelist)
- prosperous Flemish city shows rise of middle class to wealth, power, and patronage.
- donors represented by true-to-life portraits.
Describe January, The Duke of Berry at Table (Tres Riches Heures)
1411-16. Paul, Herman, and Jean Limbourg. Colors and ink on parchment.
- shows how dukes collected splendid robes and jewels, tapestry, etc.
- Duke sits behind table laden with food and rich tableware. Second table holds his collection of gold vessels.
- Words written overhead say “approach”
- John singled out visually by red “cloth of honor” with his heraldic arms-swans and lilies of France-and by large fire screen that circles his head.
Describe Champmol Altarpiece
1393-99. Chartreuse Cathedral. Melchior Broederlam. Oil in wood panel.
- Left, Gabriel greets Mary with news of her baby. A door leads into dark interior represents the Temple of Jerusalem, a symbol of the Old Law.
- tiny enclosed garden and pot of lilies = Mary’s virginity.
- Visitation outside walls, Mary greets cousin Elizabeth.
- Right, in Presentation in the Temple, Mary and Joseph have brought newborn Jesus to temple for Jewish purification rite. Priest Simeon takes him in his arms to bless him.
- Far right, Holy Family flees to Egypt to escape Herod’s order.
- sense of light and air around figures.
- statue of pagan god (upper right) breaks and tumbles from its pedestal as Christ Child approaches. New Law replaces Old.
Describe Well of Moses
1395-1406. Claus Sluter. France. The Chartreuse de Champmol. Limestone.
- may have been inspired by mystery plays where prophets foretell and explain events of the Passion.
- OT figures as physically and psychologically distinct individuals.
- Moses’s sad old eyes blaze out from memorable face entirely covered with wrinkles. His horns (due to mistranslation in Latin Bible) are wrinkled.
- David is next to him, in the voluminous robes of a medieval king, the personification of nobility.
- human as mass defined by voluminous drapery.
- abandoned idealized faces, elongated figures, and vertical drapery for surface realism and broad horizontal movement of forms.
Describe Page with Thamyris
- Giovanni Boccaccio. Ink and tempera on vellum.
- shows Thamyris, artist of antiquity, at work.
- depicted in 15thc. dress, painting an image of Virgin and Child.
- assistant grinds and mixes the colors.
- foreground, brushes and paints are laid out on table.
Describe February, Life in the Country. (Tres Riches Heures)
1411-16. Paul, Herman, and Jean Limbourg. Colors and ink on parchment.
- farm people relax before blazing fire.
- farms looks comfortable and well-maintained.
- conveys feeling of cold winter weather; breath of worker turns to steam, leaden sky and bare trees, snow covering landscape, and smoke curling from chimney.
- International Gothic Style: high placement of horizon line, small size of trees and buildings in relation to people, and cutaway view of house showing both interior and exterior.
Mary at her Devotions (Hours of Mary of Burgundy)
- Mary of Burgundy Painter. Colors and ink on parchment.
-look through “windows”
-Mary of Burgundy appears twice: seated in foreground by window reading her Book of Hours, and in background perhaps in a vision inspired by her reading.
-she kneels with attendants and angels in front of Virgin and Child.
rosary = Mary’s devotion
carnations = nails of the Crucifixion
glass vase holding purple irises = Virgin Mary’s sorrows over sacrifice of Christ.
Unicorn is found at the Fountain (Hunt of the Unicorn)
1495-1505. Wool, silk, and silver and gilt-wrapped thread.
-unicorn said to be swift and could only be captured by a virgin. became symbol of the Incarnation (Christ is unicorn captured by the Virgin Mary) and also a metaphor for romantic love.
-unicorn purifies water by dipping its horn in stream. beneficent act results in capture and killing of unicorn, relates to Christ’s death on the cross to save humanity.
red roses = Passion and Mary
-red roses growing behind unicorn suggest that tapestries celebrated Christian doctrine, but also a wedding gift.
lions = power, valor, faith, courage, mercy, Resurrection of Christ
stag = Resurrection (sheds and grows its antlers) and protector against poisonous serpents and evil.
rabbits = fertility
dogs = fidelity (loyalty)
pair of pheasants = human love and marriage
goldfinch = fertility and Passion of Christ
-flowers and trees reinforce themes of protective and curative powers.
strawberry = sexual love
pansy = remembrance
periwinkle = cure for spiteful feelings and jealousy
oak = fidelity
beech = nobility
holly = protection against evil
hawthorn = power of love
pomegranate, orange = fertility
-inspired by Song of Songs
Describe Cope of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Flemish, mid 15thc. Cloth with gold and colored silk embroidery
- order of the golden fleece was an honorary fraternity founded by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy with 23 knights chosen for their moral character and bravery.
- religious services were part of their order and liturgical objects were created for this purpose.
- surface is divided into compartments filled with the standing figures of saints.
- at the top of neck edge, is enthroned figure of Christ flanked by scholar-saints in their studies.
Describe Merode Altarpiece (Triptych of the Annunciation (open))
1425-28. Robert Campin. Oil on wood panel.
-hidden symbolism
lilies in majolica = Mary’s virginity and were a traditional element of Annunciation imagery
white towel and hanging waterpot = Mary’s purity and her role as the vessel for the Incarnation of God.
-center panel might be Gabriel telling Mary the news OR the exact moment when Mary accepts her destiny.
-rush of wind riffles book pages and snuffs candle as tiny Christ figure carrying cross descends on ray of light.
-Mary reads Bible while sitting humbly on the footrest of bench. position becomes symbol of her submission to God’s will. OR prior to Annunciation.
-Flemish lighting: combines natural and supernatural light. strongest light comes from unseen upper left.
-IGothS: recession of bench toward back of room, sharply uplifted floor and tabletop, and disproportionate relationship between figures and architectural space. may serve to visually detach religious realm from world of viewers.
-figures are massive and draperies increase impression of material weight.
-house clearly belongs to Joseph, who is in his carpentry shop.
-mousetraps could allude to Augustine’s reference to Christ as the bait in a trap set by God to catch Satan.
-Joseph is drilling holes in board used as drainboard for winemaking, understood as Eucharist wine and Christ’s Passion.
-garden planted with a rosebush (Virgin and Passion)
-man standing by entrance could be self-portrait of artist or Isaiah.
-kneeling in front of the door are donors of the altarpiece, Peter Inghelbrecht and wife.
-their eyes unfocused even though they could watch Annunciation. maybe vision induced by their prayers.
Describe Ghent Altarpiece (Open), Adoration of the Mystic Lamb
- Oil on panel. Jan and Hubert van Eyck.
- enthroned figure of God in red and gold wearing triple crown of Saint Peter (papal crown) and having earthly crown at his feet.
- joined in golden shrine is Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, each enthroned and holding an open book.
- they are flanked by angel musicians and then Adam and Eve.
- van Eyck emphasizes humanity’s fall from grace by depicting the murder of Abel by Cain and Eve who holds the forbidden fruit.
- 5 lower panels present unified field. all saints father to adore the Lamb of God that stands on altar, blood flowing into chalice (forming fountain of life)
- 3d mass of figures, voluminous draperies and surface realism and faux sculpture
Describe Man in a Red Turban
- Oil on wood panel. Jan van Eyck.
- projects strong sense of personality.
- “as i can” - telling illustration of humanist spirit of the age and confident expression of artist who knows his capabilities and proud to display them.
- portrait in which physical appearance seems recorded in magnifying mirror. very detailed.
- outward gaze is new, and suggests subject’s increased sense of self-confidence.
Describe Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, Giovanna Cenami
- Oil on wood panel. Jan van Eyck.
-on man’s side, room opens outdoors, the external “masculine” world. woman is silhouetted against domestic interior (wife and mother_
-surrounded by emblems of wealth, piety, and married life.
-convex mirror is luxury object, but also all-seeing eye of God. roundels in frame depict Passion of Christ.
-piety of couple: crystal prayer beads on wall, image of Saint Margaret (protector of women in childbirth) carved on chair, and single burning candle (Christ’s prescence)
Fruits = fertility and fall of Adam and Eve.
dog = fidelity. rare breed suggests wealth.
-woman wears aristocratic fur-lined overdress with long train. fashion dictated that robe be gathered up and held in front giving appearance of pregnancy. ideal of feminine beauty emphasized women’s potential fertility.
Describe Deposition
1435-38. Rogier van der Weyden. Oil on wood panel. Belgium.
- shallow stage closed off by wooden backdrop covered with a thin overlay of gold.
- 10 solid, 3d figures seem to press forward into viewer’s space, forcing viewer to identify with the grief of Jesus’s friends.
- Jesus’s corpse at center of composition in a graceful curve that is echoed in angular fashion by the fainting Virgin, increasing emotional identification between Mother and Son.
- compassion in gestures of John the Evangelist.
- Mary Magdalen wrings her hands in anguish.
- individual expressions of emotion. although united by sorrow, mourning figures react in personal ways.
- choice of color and pattern balances and enhances his composition.
- white sets off Jesus’s pale body and emphasizes Mary’s ashen face.
Describe Last Judgment Altarpiece (open)
- Rogier van der Weyden. Oil on wood panel. France.
- tall, straight figure of archangel Michael dressed in white rob and cope, dominates center as he weighs soul under direct order of God, who sits on arc of giant rainbow.
- Virgin Mary and John the Baptist kneel at either end of the rainbow.
- behind them are 6 apostles and host of saints who witness scene.
- cloudy gold background serves to signify events in heavenly realm or in a time remote from viewer.
- bodily resurrection takes place on narrow, barren strip of earth that runs across the bottom of all but the outer panels.
- men and women crawl out of tombs and react to Judgment.
- damned throw themselves into flaming pit of hell (no demons drag them down) and saved greet Gabriel at shining gate of heaven (Gothic portal)
