Master of Willem van Bibaut
A painter who probably worked in France or the Netherlands in the 16th century is referred to as the master of Willem van Bibaut . The artist, who is not known by name, got his emergency name from the portrait of the Carthusian Willem van Bibaut, a panel painting, which he painted in 1523 . The Latin inscription on the frame of the picture Guilelmus bibaucis primas tot [ius] Ordinis Carthusiemum 1523 further describes him as prior . In 1521 Willem became prior of the Grand Chartreuse , the mother monastery of the Carthusians, the picture was probably created on this occasion and its painter could have come from the Grenoble area.
The portrait of Willem, painted on wood, is part of a small-format two- wing devotional picture . The other part of this diptych shows a Mother of God with a child. When comparing the material and the painting style of the two pictures, however, it was found that the master of Willem van Bibaut was in all probability not the painter of this picture of Mary. It probably originated in Brussels about fifty years earlier.
The art-historical examination of the diptych with the picture of the master of Willem van Bibaut gives interesting insights into the world of thought at the time of its creation. Thus, by combining the two images, Willem is shown contemplating and devoting himself to the Madonna, who is tenderly carrying her child. The founder takes a close look at the very personal moment. The combination of saints and portraits is typical of the two-winged devotional images of its type and epoch, especially in the Netherlands but also in parts of northern France, such images found widespread use with the emergence of a new form of personal devotion, the Devotio moderna .
Even if donors can be seen in pictures in the late Middle Ages and sometimes with their splendid coats of arms, they are usually shown at a great distance from the sacred events and often in the presence of a saint . Willem, on the other hand, is not only close to what is happening, on the back ( verso ) of his portrait the five wounds of Christ are depicted, to which Willem accorded special veneration according to documents.
Individual evidence
literature
- MR de Vrij: The Master of Willem van Bibaut. His Oeuvre, his Alleged Original and his Place in the Studio . In: Pantheon 56, 1998. pp. 186-191
- MR de Vrij: De Meester van de Magdalena-legende en de diptiek van Willem van Bibaut . In: Oud Holland, Volume 108 (1998). Pp. 73-78
- National Gallery Of Art, Washington (Ed.): Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych . Yale University Press 2007
Web links
- Diptych with the portrait of Willem van Bibaut, 1523 , at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (shown as part of a special exhibition)