Old Dutch painting
Old Dutch painting refers to an era of Dutch , especially Flemish painting, which began around the second quarter of the 15th century and lasted for about a century. The art of the late Gothic passed into the art of the early Renaissance . In the late Gothic period, starting from France , a universal formal language developed in which numerous masters from the Dutch area were already involved, a recognizable independent regional painting school has now emerged there, the new achievement of which was a realistic representation that included portraiture .
The term Flemish Primitive (Primitifs flamands) is a term from the art history of the 19th century for the group of artists of old Dutch painting .
Historical background
A cultural sociological change had taken place since the 14th century: Secular patrons replaced the church as the most important client for works of art. The courtly art production of the late Gothic, the center of which was France , was already partly dominated by the Dutch.
The Netherlands were also lordly connected to France through the House of Burgundy , so that it was easy for Flemish, Walloon and Dutch artists to gain a foothold in the local courts of Anjou , Orléans , Berry or that of the French king . Outstanding masters of this art, often referred to as international Gothic and spread over Burgundy , Bohemia , France and northern Italy, were, for example, B. the Limburg brothers from Geldern . In the Dutch homeland of origin, mostly only secondary forces remained, apart from exceptions such as Melchior Broederlam .
After the Battle of Azincourt (1415) and the death of the Duke of Berry , the Burgundian Duke Philip the Good withdrew to Flanders . The move of the Burgundian court to Flanders gave the local masters the best possible working conditions in their own homeland. There was now no need to emigrate to the French cultural centers. Regional painting schools could develop. Before that, the championship had been absorbed by exceptional talents such as Jan Bondol , Johan Maelwael or the Limburg Brothers of the "International Style". Now Franco-Flemish artists became Dutch. Erwin Panofsky even spoke of the “repatriation of the Flemish genius”. The new generation of Dutch artists no longer made use of the universal, Gothic formal language. It can therefore be described as a specifically Dutch school.
The wealth of the commercial metropolises further promoted this development. Even bourgeois clients could now be supplied by the leading workshops in a short distance. A heyday of the Flemish and Brabant cities ( Bruges , Antwerp , Ghent , Brussels , Ypres , Mechelen , Leuven ) made the patricians equal competitors to the princes, who were not inferior to them in wealth and power. This third group of clients and patrons in addition to the courtyards and churches had a decisive influence on the choice of themes by the artists. Religious works of art, such as altarpieces , were also often no longer commissioned directly by the church, but were also donated by merchant guilds , for example .
Commissions for the representative use of paintings in-house brought about a completely new genre of art, portrait painting , and this in turn promoted an individualizing element in art that completely corresponded to the already effective tendencies.
Characteristics of Old Dutch Art
Around the courts of the Dukes of Burgundy in Dijon and Bruges and the city of Tournai , a separate painting school between the Gothic and the Renaissance developed in the 15th century . Some art historians suspect the roots in French-Flemish book illumination , for example with Jean Pucelle or the Brothers of Limburg. Pucelle's illuminations, with their three-dimensional corporeality of the figures and representations of interiors arranged in perspective, make him appear as a pioneer of old Dutch painting.
The old Dutch works differ significantly from their Gothic predecessors in their often almost photographic realism. The suggestions of the Italian early and high renaissance developed in connection with the local traditions to an independent, completely new visual language. An essential feature of the Dutch nature observation is the representation of the landscape . First of all, the medieval gold grounds were replaced by realistic landscapes as the background before landscape painting became an artistic genre in its own right.
The exact observation of nature extended to the representation of the human body. The nudes of Adam and Eve on the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck show a naturalness that has not been achieved since antiquity . It differs significantly from the nudes that began at the same time in the Italian Renaissance , which were much more shaped by scientific-anatomical construction, while Jan van Eyck closely observed the surface and the movement of the body and depicted them down to the smallest detail.
What was unmistakably new in old Dutch painting was, on the one hand, the detailed material surface characterization and, on the other hand, a plasticity through carefully observed and effectively used lighting effects. The new style was initially based on a new technique: oil painting .
Before Van Eyck and Robert Campin, Dutch and Flemish painting was oriented towards the international Gothic , which is usually referred to as "beautiful" or "soft style". Even the great masters could not completely detach themselves from this influence for a long time, the elongated figures and the rich folds of the robes clearly refer to the older traditions. In general, early Dutch painting before the 15th century is given little attention today. The works are mostly considered provincial and secondary.
In many art history publications, Old Dutch painting is only treated from the master of Flémalle , who is usually equated with Robert Campin . The beginnings of old Dutch painting in the narrower sense are shaped by him and his colleagues as well as by Hubert and Jan van Eyck. The Ghent Altarpiece, completed in 1432 by the van Eyck brothers, is considered to be a major work of this era. Even contemporaries regarded the works of art by Jan van Eyck and the other Flemish masters as ars nova ,as something completely new. Early Dutch painting developed around the same time as the Renaissance in Italy .
With the portrait, a secular, individualized theme became a main motif in painting for the first time. The genre painting and the still life , on the other hand, only had a breakthrough in the Dutch Baroque of the 17th century. However, through its “bourgeoisisation”, old Dutch painting already points to the modern age. As clients, the rich patricians and merchants came more and more alongside the nobility and clergy . The figures were no longer depicted idealized. Real people face the viewer with their physical inadequacies. Wrinkles, bags under the eyes, everything was rendered relentlessly naturalistic. The saints no longer had their place only in the houses of God, they also found their way into the living rooms of the citizens.
The artists
One of the earliest exponents of the new conception of art, alongside Hubert and Jan van Eyck, is the Master of Flémalle, who is mostly identified today with Robert Campin. A major work by Campin and his workshop is the Mérode triptych (around 1430), which can be seen today in the Metropolitan Museum in New York .
The actual existence of Jan van Eyck's brother Hubert has long been disputed. More recent research came to the result that Hubert - mentioned only in a few sources - was only an insignificant Ghent painter who was not related to Jan or in any other way . Due to the latest findings in the course of the restoration of the Ghent Altarpiece , which has been ongoing since 2012, some art scholars , in contrast, take the position that there is no reason to check the authenticity of the inscription on the first version of the frame of the Ghent Altarpiece and thus the involvement and existence of Hubert van Eycks to doubt.
Rogier van der Weyden , whose collaboration on the Mérode triptych is likely, is to be regarded as a student of Campins . This in turn influenced Dieric Bouts and Hans Memling . Memling's contemporary was Hugo van der Goes , who was first recorded in 1465.
In addition to the grand masters of old Dutch painting, there are also Petrus Christ , Justus van Gent , Aelbert van Ouwater , Colijn de Coter , Aelbert Bouts , Geertgen tot Sint Jans , the master of the Virgo inter Virgines , Gerard David , Goossen van der Weyden and Quentin Massys and theirs To cite workshops. Hieronymus Bosch has his own position within this group. His work gives rise to numerous speculations to this day.
Today only a fraction of the works of the old Dutch artists are preserved. Countless paintings and drawings fell victim to the iconoclasts in the turmoil of the Reformation and the many wars. Many old Dutch paintings also show severe damage and have to be painstakingly restored. Some major works have only survived through copies, often of high quality in terms of craftsmanship and artistry, but the majority is lost forever.
The works of the early Dutch and Flemings are now exhibited in major international art museums. However, some altars and paintings are still in their old locations in churches, cathedrals and castles such as the famous Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent. For safety reasons, however, it can only be studied today through thick armored glass panes.
Effects
Italy
The work of Jan van Eyck in particular caused a sensation in Italy, the country of origin of the Renaissance. A few years after his death, the humanist Bartolomeo Facio even praised the master as the “painter princes of our century”.
While the Italian painters made use of complicated mathematical and geometric aids (escape line systems, etc.), the Flemish apparently effortlessly succeeded in reproducing "reality" correctly. The pictorial events no longer took place on a stage, as it were, in the Gothic style. The rooms are shown correctly in perspective , the landscapes no longer schematized like a backdrop. Wide, extremely detailed backgrounds direct the view into infinity. Robes, furniture and items of equipment were often depicted in an almost photo-realistic manner.
The maniera Fiamminga had a tremendous influence on the art of the Italian Quattrocento. Antonello da Messina was therefore long considered a direct pupil of Jan van Eyck. Italian collectors ordered numerous paintings from the northern masters, and patrons enabled young artists to train in Flemish workshops.
Van Eyck was long considered the "inventor" of oil painting . In fact, however, his paintings are executed in a mixed technique, the traditional tempera painting was supplemented by elements of the oil technique. The master sometimes used turpentine oils (white varnish) as a binder. The paint dries much faster and retains its intense luminosity. These innovations were quickly picked up by other artists across Europe.
In addition to the unusual luminosity of the colors, the Italians were particularly impressed by the "deep piety" of the Flemings. His own painting was more shaped by humanism, northern art succeeded in combining naturalism with a deep religiousness.
Germany
Neighboring Germany was of course also dominated by the new conception of art, which, along with the Italian schools, was to shape Western art for almost two centuries. Giorgio Vasari even counted Albrecht Dürer and his predecessor Martin Schongauer among the Flemings. Indeed, the work of these two artists would be inconceivable without these suggestions.
Dürer had been apprenticed to Michael Wohlgemut , who as a student of Hans Pleydenwurff was strongly influenced by the Dutch style of painting. In 1520/21 the great man from Nuremberg had the opportunity to study Flemish art in its country of origin during his “Dutch trip”.
The Calvary of the Wasservass family (around 1420–1430, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz Museum ) is considered to be one of the earliest German paintings of the “Flemish” style . The Burgundian-Flemish influence is even clearer with Stefan Lochner . Due to the spatial proximity, painting in Cologne and on the Lower Rhine was particularly influenced by Dutch art. The Cologne patrician Goddert von dem Wasservass ordered the Columba or Three Kings altar (today Munich, Alte Pinakothek ) from Rogier van der Weyden for his family chapel.
Spain
The first influences of the northern style of painting in Spain can be seen in the Kingdom of Aragon , which also includes Valencia , Catalonia and the Balearic Islands . King Alfonso V sent his court painter Lluís Dalmau to Flanders as early as 1431. In 1439 the Bruges painter Luís Alimbrot (Lodewijk Allyncbrood) moved his workshop to Valencia . Jan van Eyck is likely to have visited the city as early as 1427 as a member of a Burgundian delegation.
Valencia, then one of the most important centers in the Mediterranean world, attracted artists from all over Europe. In addition to the traditional painting schools of the “International Style”, Flemish-influenced workshops and Italian suggestions appeared.
A "Hispano-Flemish" art movement developed, the main masters of which are Bartolomé Bermejo , Jaume Huguet and Rodrigo de Osona .
In the Kingdom of Castile , too , the northern influences became apparent early on. However, the local masters used pine wood as a painting surface instead of the usual oak boards and continued to prefer tempera as the painting material. The “lavish” use of gold leaf and gold powder in the painting of Castile and Aragon is striking. Other special features are the rich ornamentation and the often huge dimensions of the Spanish winged altars.
The Castilian kings owned some important works by Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memlings and Jan van Eyck.
Portugal
An independent Portuguese painting school was established in the second half of the 15th century in the Lisbon workshop of the court painter Nuno Gonçalves . The art of this master seems completely isolated, it had neither predecessors nor successors in Portugal. Flemish influences on Gonçalves are particularly evident in the polyptych of St. Vincenz (Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga ) clearly.
The painting of the "golden age of Manueline" in the early 16th century was mainly influenced by Flemish-Dutch art. The Flame Francisco Henriques worked in Lisbon and Évora . Frei Carlos , a Hieronymite monk from a monastery near Évora, also came from the north . The master of Lourinhã is considered to be an important example of the Portuguese painters influenced by the old Dutch painting .
See also
literature
Overall representations
- Birgit Franke, Barbara Welzel (ed.): The art of the Burgundian Netherlands. An introduction. Berlin 1997. ISBN 3-496-01170-X
- Max Jakob Friedländer : Old Dutch painting. 14 vols. Berlin 1924–1937.
- Erwin Panofsky : The old Dutch painting. Their origin and essence. Translated and edited. by Jochen Sander and Stephan Kemperdick. Cologne 2001. ISBN 3-7701-3857-0 (Original: Early Netherlandish Painting. 2 Bde. Cambridge (Mass.) 1953)
Individual aspects
- Hans Belting , Christiane Kruse: The Invention of the Painting: The First Century of Dutch Painting . Munich 1994
- Till-Holger Borchert (Ed.): Jan van Eyck and his time. Flemish Masters and the South 1430–1530. Exhibition catalog Bruges, Stuttgart 2002. Darmstadt 2002.
- Bodo Brinkmann: Flemish book illumination at the end of the Burgundy Empire. The master of the Dresden prayer book and the miniaturists of his time. Turnhout 1997. ISBN 2-503-50565-1
- Wolfgang Kermer : Studies on the diptych in sacred painting: from the beginning to the middle of the sixteenth century. With a catalog. Düsseldorf 1967 (Phil. Diss. Tübingen 1966).
- Otto Pächt : Van Eyck, the founders of old Dutch painting. Munich 1989. ISBN 3-7913-1389-4
- Otto Pächt: Old Dutch painting. From Rogier van der Weyden to Gerard David. Edited by Monika Rosenauer. Munich 1994. ISBN 3-7913-1389-4
- Jochen Sander, Stephan Kemperdick: The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden: The Birth of Modern Painting: An Exhibition by the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main and the Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin , Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2008
- Norbert Wolf: Trecento and Old Dutch Painting. Art Epochs, Vol. 5 (Reclams Universal Library 18172). ISBN 3-15-018172-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jochen Sander (Ed.): In new splendor. The Master of Flémalle's thief fragment in context. Frankfurt: Schnell and Steiner 2017.
- ↑ The term became general through the exhibition Exposition des Primitifs flamands , which took place in Bruges in 1902. See the exhibition catalog . Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ↑ Erwin Panofsky: The old Dutch painting. Their origin and essence. Translated and edited. by Jochen Sander and Stephan Kemperdick. Cologne 2001. p. 154. ISBN 3-7701-3857-0
- ↑ Erwin Panofsky: The old Dutch painting. Their origin and essence. Translated and edited. by Jochen Sander and Stephan Kemperdick. Cologne 2001. pp. 33-39.
- ↑ Erwin Panofsky: The old Dutch painting. Their origin and essence. Translated and edited. by Jochen Sander and Stephan Kemperdick. Cologne 2001. pp. 62-66.
- ^ Otto Pächt: Van Eyck. The founders of old Dutch painting. Munich: Prestel 1989, pp. 171-174.
- ^ Felix Thürlemann : Robert Campin. Monograph and catalog of works. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7913-2807-7 .
- ↑ Jochen Sander: Master of Flémalle: Mérode-Triptychon. In: Stephan Kemperdick, Jochen Sander (eds.): The master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden. Exhibition catalog of the Städel Museum Frankfurt, November 21, 2008 - February 22, 2009 and the Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, March 20, 2009 - June 21, 2009. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2008, pp. 192–201. ISBN 978-3-7757-2258-2 .
- ↑ Stephan Kemperdick: The history of the Ghent Altarpiece . In: Stephan Kemperdick and Johannes Rößler (eds.): The Ghent Altarpiece by the van Eyck brothers . Publication accompanying the exhibition The Ghent Altarpiece by the van Eyck brothers in Berlin. 1820-1920 . National Museums in Berlin - Prussian Cultural Heritage 2014, p. 22. ISBN 978-3-7319-0089-4 .
- ^ Felix Thürlemann: Robert Campin: The Mérode Triptych. A wedding picture for Peter Engelbrecht and Gretchen Schrinmechers from Cologne . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag: Frankfurt am Main 1997. p. 11. ISBN 3-596-12418-2