Hans Memling - Early Netherlandish Painter

Hans Memling - St John Altarpiece (central panel) - 1474-79 - Oil on oak panel, 173,6 x 173,7 cm - Memlingmuseum, Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges (click photo for larger image)Hans Memling (c.1430-1494) was the leading Flemish painter of the Bruges school during the period of the city’s political and commercial decline. The number of his imitators and followers testified to his popularity throughout Flanders. Memling’s art clearly reveals the influence of contemporary Flemish painters. He borrowed, for example, from Jan van Eyck, and the influence of Bouts and van der Goes can also be discerned in his works. Above all, Memling’s art reveals a thorough knowledge of, and dependence on, compositions and figure types created by Rogier van der Weyden. It’s believed by some scholars that Memling studied under the older master.

An Early Expressionist--Rogier van der Weyden

Rogier van der Weyden - Bladelin Triptych - 1445-50 - Oil on oak panel, 91 x 89 cm (centre panel), 91 x 40 cm (each wing) - Staatliche Museen, Berlin (click photo for larger image)Rogier van der Weyden - Portrait of a Lady - c. 1455 - Oil on oak panel, 37 x 27 cm - National Gallery of Art, Washington (click photo for larger image)Rogier van der Weyden (born 1399/1400, Tournai, France - died June 18, 1464, Brussels) was a Flemish painter who was the most influential northern European artist of his time--with the exception of Jan van Eyck.

Rogier was born into a rising middle class--and documentation exists that suggests he received a university education. He didn’t begin painting until the ripe old age of 27!

In his later life, Rogier received numerous vast commissions and was the head of his own large workshop. His work has had an enormous inpact on subsequent generations of artists--in part for its expressionistic qualities that do not rely on the inclusion of enormous technical details.

Petrus Christus: A Developer of the Interior Space

Petrus Christus - St Eligius in His Workshop - 1449 - Oil on panel, 98 x 85 cm - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (click photo for larger image)Petrus Christus - Virgin and Child in a Chamber - 1450-55 - Panel, 70 x 51 cm - Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (click photo for larger image)Netherlandish painter Petrus Christus (born c. 1410/20, Baarle – died c. 1475/75, Brugge) is believed by some scholars to have been the pupil of Jan van Eyck--although it is debatable. In any case, he was most definitely heavily influenced by Van Eyck--as well as by Rogier van der Weyden. While lacking the power of these other masters--Christus does count among his best works his portraits--which place his sitters in clearly defined interiors. This represents a significant stylistic departure from the dark backgrounds of his day. Christus also created the earliest dated example of the use of geometric perspective, with a single vanishing point, in the north.

Follow this link to read some interesting details about about Christus' "St Eligius in His Workshop" (top image).

Jan van Eyck: The Master of Symbols

Jan van Eyck - Portrait of a Goldsmith (Man with Ring) - c. 1430 - Wood, 16,6 x 13,2 cm (without frame) - Muzeul National de Arta, Bucharest (click photo for larger image)Jan van Eyck - Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife (the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait) - 1434 - Oil on oak, 82 x 60 cm National Gallery, London (click photo for larger image)Jan van Eyck (born c. 1380/90 - died 1441) is the artist credited with perfecting the use of oil paint and has traditionally been exalted as the founder of Flemish painting. His work is characterized by an extensive number of disguised religious symbols.

Jan van Eyck is one of those masters in whom interest--over time--has remained high. His work is frequently copied and to own anything by the artist is a collector’s dream. His major achievement is the Ghent Altarpiece, featured elsewhere on this site. Indeed, the return of this famous work to Belgium had to be guaranteed--in the Treaty of Versailles, after WWI--before peace with Germany could be finalized. However, Jan van Eyck is also well known for many of his fine portraits--most notably the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait.

The Dignity and Grandeur of Dieric Bouts the Elder

Dieric Bouts the Elder - Portrait of a Man - c. 1470 - Oil on wood, 31 x 22 cm - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (click photo for larger image)Dieric Bouts the Elder - The Ordeal by Fire - c. 1460 - Oil on wood, 324 x 182 cm - Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels - This painting is one panel of a diptych that was painted by Bouts towards the end of his life. The paintings recount a horrific misadventure that befell Otto III and his treacherous wife. Bouts had found the story in a 12th-century chronicle written by Godefroy, Bishop of Viterbo. (click photo for larger image)Like many painters of his generation, Dieric Bouts the Elder (born c. 1415, now the Netherlands - died May 6, 1475, now Belgium) was heavily influenced by masters Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. Later on in his career, however, a greater severity and dignity in the treatment of figures; appears in his work. The facial expressions of the figures in his paintings show an extraordinary restraint that appears as a deliberately controlled intensity, made with great spiritual effect.