Robert Campin

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Robert Campin (* around 1375 in Tournai (?); † April 26, 1444 in Tournai) was a Flemish painter .

In art history , the view has largely prevailed that the artists identified with the emergency names “ Master of Flémalle ” or “Master of Mérode” can be associated with Campin's workshop. On the other hand, it is controversial in art history whether the "Master of Flémalle" can be equated with Campin himself. Alongside Jan van Eyck, Robert Campin played a central role in the development of old Dutch painting . His main students were Rogier van der Weyden and Jacques Daret .

Life

The first evidence of the work of Robert Campin can be found in the year 1406 in Tournai, where he is listed as maistre Robert Campin, pointre in the billing of an order . This means that at that time he was already working as a self-employed workshop owner. He must have been around 25 to 28 years old at the time. Based on this information, his year of birth is estimated today. Nothing is known about his place of birth, which has led to all sorts of speculations and speculations in the past.

In 1410 he acquired civil rights in Tournai, which can indicate that he did not originally come from this city. Although he was not an official city painter, he regularly carried out work for the city authorities. The municipal orders included the design of flags , coats of arms , signs, wall paintings , orders for sacred panel paintings are not documented. Campin worked in various public offices. He was a board member in the parish, treasurer of a monastery and was also elected to the thirty-member city council. He was also the city's auditor and seal keeper.

He was tried twice, once in connection with a controversy over a colleague, and a second time in July 1432, when he was sentenced to a year in exile. The reason for this was that he had a relationship with Leurence Polette, although he was married to Ysabiel de Stocquain (or Isabella or Elisabeth van Stockhem ) at the same time . This forced him to temporarily close his workshop. As a result, Rogier van der Weyden and Jacques Daret founded their own workshops, which made them identifiable as individual artistic personalities. The exile was lifted in October of the same year and Campin continued to run his workshop downsized. However, the number of public contracts fell sharply. In the last 13 years of his life it was only four or five.

Factory and workshop

The works attributed to Campin were initially heavily influenced by French book illumination . They show great attention to detail, a plastic shaping of the figures and a natural depth of the rooms.

It is unclear whether the three tablets with the breastfeeding mother of God , the Veronica with the handkerchief and the mercy seat (God the father with the dead Christ ) can be ascribed to Campin. The Aachen cloth manufacturer Ignaz van Houtem brought them to the Frankfurt Städel in 1849 with the declaration that they came from the "Abbey of Flémalle ". However, they cannot come from the Belgian town near Liège, as there was no abbey there at all. There was, however, an abbey with a similar name near Löwen . This Vlierbeek Abbey was dissolved and sold between 1796 and 1798. For the presumed creator of all three tablets, Hugo von Tschudi created the emergency name “Master of Flémalle”, which is still in use today , based on the information provided by the Aachen cloth manufacturer .

The extent to which this "Master of Flémalle", who according to current knowledge could more accurately be called the "Master of the three Aachen panels", is actually identical to the artist Robert Campin or to what extent pupils and employees of his workshop were also involved in these paintings is not conclusive clarified. According to more recent findings, the works originally compiled under the name of Meister von Flémalle , today under Robert Campin , may have been by several artists.

The portrait of a man (possibly Robert de Masmines ) from around 1425/1430 , which is considered one of the earliest autonomous portraits in modern European painting, has a special place in the work attributed to Campin . The painting, of which a presumed copy from around 1440 hangs in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie and another, later version in Madrid in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, is “an early example of a portrait that does not represent a ruler, but also not in connection with a foundation stands [...] It is particularly fascinating because of the realistic, not at all glossing over type of presentation. "

Works

The unsigned works can only be attributions that are recognized through style comparisons and other scientific methods (X-ray, infrared, dendrochronology ):

Portrait of a Man (around 1430–1435, now London, National Gallery)
Portrait of a Woman (around 1430–1435, now London, National Gallery)
  • Madonna on a grass bank ( Berlin, Gemäldegalerie , c. 1425, oil on wood)
  • Portrait of a Woman (London, National Gallery, c. 1430, oil on panel)
  • Portrait of a Man (London, National Gallery, c. 1430, oil on panel)
  • Heinrich von Werl and John the Baptist (Madrid, Museo del Prado , 1438, oil on panel)
  • St. Barbara (Madrid, Museo del Prado, 1438, oil on panel)
  • The Mourning of the Trinity ( St. Petersburg, Hermitage , oil on panel)
  • Madonna and Child in front of a fireplace (St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum, oil on wood)

Other works that are assigned to the "Master of Flémalle" and thus Campin's workshop:

Gallery of pictures from the Campins workshop

  • Madonna (before 1430, now London, National Gallery)

  • Mérode Triptych (around 1425–1435, now New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art)

  • Portrait of a fat man, Robert Campin workshop, after 1440

literature

Web links

Commons : Robert Campin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Master of Flémalle . In: Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): General lexicon of fine artists from antiquity to the present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker . tape 37 : Master with emergency names and monogramists . EA Seemann, Leipzig 1950, p. 98-101 . Jochen Sander: Dutch paintings in the Städel. Mainz 1993.
  2. ↑ Stephan Kemperdick, Jochen Sander (ed.): The master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2008, ISBN 978-3-7757-2258-2 .
  3. ^ Stephan Kemperdick: Robert Campin, Jaques Daret, Rogier van der Weyden; the written records. In: Stephan Kemperdick, Jochen Sander (eds.): The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden: an exhibition of the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, [November 21, 2008 to February 22, 2009] and the picture gallery of the State Museums in Berlin (March 20, 2009 to June 21, 2009). Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verl. U. Frankfurt am Main: Städel Museum, 2008. p. 53.
  4. ↑ a b Martin Conway: The Van Eycks and their followers . John Murray, London 1921, p. 111 f. ( Digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dvaneyckstheirfol00conwuoft~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D111~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D ).
  5. ↑ Brochure for the exhibition The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2009.
  6. ↑ a b Picture description and dating at SMB-Digital
  7. ↑ a b c Stephan Kemperdick, Jochen Sander (eds.): The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden: an exhibition of the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, [November 21, 2008 to February 22, 2009] and the picture gallery of the State Museums zu Berlin (March 20, 2009 to June 21, 2009). Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verl. U. Frankfurt am Main: Städel Museum, 2008. p. 270.
  8. ↑ Susanna Partsch : Look me in the eye, Dürer! The art of the old masters. Munich 2018, p. 108.
  9. ^ Image description at the National Gallery and technical article Campbell, L., Bomford, D., Roy, A., White, R .: "The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen": History, Examination and Treatment , National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 15 , pp 20-35.
  10. ↑ Description of the picture on the museum website
  11. ↑ Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece). on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website
personal data
SURNAME Campin, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Master of Flémalle; Master of Mérode (emergency names)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Flemish painter
DATE OF BIRTH around 1375
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: Tournai
DATE OF DEATH April 26, 1444
Place of death Tournai