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Gothic and
Early Renaissance |
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Painting |
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Nuno
Goncalves
Martinus Opifex
Juan de Levi
Master of the Lower Saxon Workshop
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A broad range of
characters
The book embraces a wide variety of artists: great
innovators whose enormous powers of invention pointed the
development of art in a whole new direction, such as Giotto,
Simone Martini, Pisanello, Nuno Goncalves and Lorenzo
Monaco, the Master Boucicaut, Jan van Eyck and Hugo van der
Goes; individualists who arrived at highly original and
perfect solutions within existing trends, such as Borrassa
Lluis, Pisanello, the Master of the Rohan Book of Hours, the
Master of the St. Bartholomew Altar, Bernat Martorell and
Stefan Lochner; singular, often particularly delightful
characters such as Martinus Opifex in Bavaria (doc.
1440-1456) and Juan de Levi in Aragon (doc. 1388-1410); and
countless great masters who stand largely outside all
trends, such as Theodoric, Barthelemy d'Eyck and Jean
Fouquet (c. 1414/20 —c. 1480), and whose influence was
limited to a small sphere simply by the fact that they were
working either for elite circles or in a geographically
remote place. What is so astonishing, in view of the
thousands of paintings by different hands and the thousands
of artists mentioned in records, is just how few great
individuals actually shape the epoch at the end of the day. |
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Subjects of Gothic art
An overview of Gothic painting will inevitably be
dominated by religious, and specifically Christian, art —
not just because the term Gothic was originally associated
with French cathedrals, but because the Christian faith
infused, at least outwardly, many areas of life and above
all death in every stratum of society that could afford art.
In almost every culture in the history of humankind, the
incomprehensible power of death has prompted people to spend
more on the apotheosis of their own person or that of a dear
one, and on the hope of a life after death, than on any
other genre of art. Even more importantly, the paintings
that resulted have survived longer than the decorative
artefacts with which they brightened up their daily lives.
Many apparently "ordinary" altarpieces were intended by
their donors to help ensure the salvation of their souls.
The great scholar Nicholas of Cusa (1401—1464) was not the
only one to have himself buried directly in front of the
altarpiece which he commissioned (Master of the Life of the
Virgin). As over a hundred years earlier in the Glatz
Madonna (Master of the Glatz Madonna), the inclusion of his
portrait as a figure in prayer ensured that he would be
perpetuated for ever in the act of devout worship.
Secular painting concentrated upon the decoration of civic
spaces and, increasingly towards the end of the Gothic era,
upon the portrait, at first solely those of rulers, but
subsequently also the private portrait. Even in Illuminated
Manuscripts, non-religious illustrations remained in the
minority. Alongside high art, which was only accessible to a
very small section of society, there were undoubtedly other
forms of art circulating amongst a much wider public.
Considerably fewer of these have survived into the present,
however, and the ones that have are much less differentiated
in style. This not only makes it harder to date them, but
makes it almost impossible to use them as a basis upon which
to trace the development of Gothic art. Works of art which
were not destined solely for the uppermost echelons of
society are represented within these pages in the guise of
some of the wall and panel paintings from Scandinavia and
Spain.
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Panel painting
and altarpiece
In view of
this concentration upon religious art,
it follows that the majority of the
works described here are altarpieces.
Most are panel paintings, in other words
paintings on wood, a medium employed
since the late 12th century and in some
places still in use even in Baroque
times. At first they were hung as an
antependium in front of the altar table,
while the priest stood behind it and
celebrated facing the congregation -a
custom which was reinstated after the
Second Vatican Council of the years
1962—1965. In the 13th century,
following alterations to the liturgy
still not fully explained or perhaps
simply in line with changing tastes, the
painted panels increasingly migrated up
and onto the altar table, where they
stood at the rear as a retabulum. This
implies that the priest must now have
been leading the service with his back
to the congregation.
Within the altarpiece genre as a whole,
a distinction may be made between the
simple panel, or pala, which was the
convention in Italy, and altars with —
as a rule, folding — wings, as are found
above all north of the Alps and the
Pyrenees. These triptychs were only
opened out on high days and holidays.
The excitement of this moment was
heightened for the faithful by the
particularly opulent painting of their
interiors, usually involving lavish
quantities of gold. We occasionally find
altars with double sets of wings, which
can thus be displayed in three different
ways. This concept of opening out may in
part derive both from the idea and the
physical shape of the containers used to
house relics. The play, evident in the
rigid Soest altarpiece (Westphalian
Master), upon the silhouette of a
triptych is one of the proofs that the
folding altar was familiar by the 13th
century, even if the majority known to
us today only date from the following
century.
In Italy and Spain, on the other hand,
rigid structures remained
overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, the
norm, although this did not necessarily
preclude them from employing more than
one section. Panels of different sizes
were combined into larger
superstructures, which in Spain and
Portugal could extend to fill virtually
the entire space behind the altar right
up to the ceiling and out to the side
walls. Like triptychs in the North, they
frequently incorporated sculptures at
their centre. These were elaborately
painted in techniques similar to those
employed for the panels, and were often
admired even more greatly than the
paintings themselves.
It is clear even from this brief
overview that the Gothic panel
painting needs to be considered in
its original context, namely inside
a church, on an altar table, perhaps
topped by further panels and even,
in some cases, accompanied by holy
relics and a donor's tomb. In their
relief patterning and lavish use of
gold leaf, the earliest
examples of such paintings offer
parallels with works executed by
goldsmiths, such as caskets made to
house the bones of saints venerated
at the altar. The new genre of
paintings destined for collectors
and galleries was one that only
began to emerge right at the end of
the Gothic era. It would
subsequently remain the norm until
the gradual dissolution of the
traditional forms of art in the 20th
century.
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Goncalves
Nuno
( fl 1450–1491).
Portuguese painter.
His work may be said to have
initiated
the Renaissance in Portuguese
painting. He is first named in a
document of 1450, when Afonso V (reg
1438–81) appointed him court
painter. In 1470 a payment to him is
recorded for an altarpiece painted
for the chapel of the Palácio Real,
Sintra, which, given the dedication
of the chapel, probably represented
the Pentecost (untraced). A document
of 1471 states that Gonçalves
replaced the painter João Eanes ( fl
from 1454) as Pintor das Obras da
Cidade de Lisboa (Painter of works
for the city of Lisbon)
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 Nuno Goncalves
Archbishop panel Altarpiece of Saint Vincent 1460s Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon |
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Nuno Goncalves Archbishop panel Altarpiece of Saint Vincent 1460s Museu Nacional de Arte
Antiga, Lisbon
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Nuno Goncalves Archbishop panel Altarpiece of Saint Vincent 1460s Museu Nacional de Arte
Antiga, Lisbon
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Nuno Goncalves Archbishop panel Altarpiece of Saint
Vincent 1460s Museu Nacional de
Arte Antiga, Lisbon
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Nuno Goncalves Archbishop panel Altarpiece of Saint
Vincent 1460s Museu Nacional de
Arte Antiga, Lisbon
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Nuno Goncalves Archbishop panel Altarpiece of Saint
Vincent 1460s Museu Nacional de
Arte Antiga, Lisbon
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Martinus "opifex"
( fl 1440; d Regensburg,
?1456).
Illuminator, active in
Germany. Most scholars,
except Ziegler (1988), place
at the beginning of his career his
contribution, dated 1440, to a
manuscript (before 1440–66; 295*210
mm; Munich, Bayer. Staatsbib., Cgm.
3974) executed at various workshops.
A manuscript with the text of Thomas
von Cantimpré’s De natura rerum and
extracts from Ibn Butlan’s Tacuinum
sanitatis (c. 1445; 455*325 mm;
Granada, Bib. U., MS. C.67) also
belongs to this early phase. From
1446 to 1449 Martinus is known to
have been active at the court of
Frederick III in Vienna. To this
period belong a Golden Legend
(1446–7; 540*360 mm; Vienna,
Österreich. Nbib., Cod. 326) and a
Breviary (1447–8; 530*365 mm;
Vienna, Österreich. Nbib., Cod.
1767), which were both executed for
Frederick III in collaboration with
three other court illuminators and
their workshops. In early 1451
Martinus ‘opifex’ is attested in
Regensburg.

Martinus "opifex"
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Martinus "opifex"
"Here the Greeks sail for
Troy" 1456 (miniature from the Trojan War by
Guido de Columnis)
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Martinus "opifex"
"Here the Greeks sail
for Troy" 1456 (miniature from the Trojan War
by Guido de Columnis)
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Juan de Levi
(b Saragossa; fl
1388–1410).
Spanish painter. He belonged to a
family of converted Jews and was the
nephew and pupil of the painter
Guillén de Levi. He painted the
altarpiece of SS Laurence, Catherine
and Prudence, commissioned by the
brother prelates Fernando and Pedro
Pérez Calvillo for their sepulchral
chapel, founded in 1376, in Tarazona
Cathedral (Saragossa). The
altarpiece was finished by 1403,
when it was mentioned as a model in
a contract that commissioned Juan de
Levi to supply a retable for S
Jaime, Montalban (untraced). Other
documents record that he executed
works in Huesca, Saragossa and
Teruel, but none of these survives.
The altarpiece in Tarazona
Cathedral, Juan’s only surviving
authenticated work, is one of the
most beautiful examples of late
14th-century Aragonese art. It is
painted in an expressive and elegant
style, and shows great narrative
ability. It indicates a development
from an Italianizing Gothic style,
of Sienese origin, towards a more
international manner that
incorporated elements derived from
the work of north European masters.
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 Juan de Levi
Peter Recognizes the Risen Christ on
the Lake Shore c. 1400 Museu Diocesa, Vic
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Canvas
paintings
Paintings on a textile backing ate
similarly only found in larger
numbers as from around 1500. Over
the following years they would
become increasingly widespread, not
least because of the lower costs
involved. The use of less durable
paint materials and a less thorough
preparation of the ground meant they
deteriorated easily. They were also
treated with less care, since their
value was considered to be lower. It
was precisely this perception of
canvas as having a lower worth that
meant it was selected only rarely
before 1500 for important works of
art. The potential of the new medium
only began to be recognized by
painters such as Durer. Unfortunately,
many such paintings have suffered
irreparable damage even in recent
times as a result of inappropriate
treatment. Specifically, canvases do
not tolerate the protective coatings
of varnish which have been applied,
often thoughtlessly, in the modern
museums of the 19th and 20th
century.
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Wall painting
In Italian art from
Giotto
to Raphael, wall painting is
at least as important as panel
painting. In contrast to the murals
surviving in smaller numbers in the
North, in which the pigments bound
in oil or egg tempera were generally
applied directly on top of a dry
ground, artists in Italy mostly
employed the true fresco technique.
Fresco means fresh: the pictures
were painted on plaster that was
still damp, in sections which had to
be completed at one stretch, with
only gold accents and a few other
colours being added later. The
possibility for corrections was only
limited, and thus the painting of
vast surfaces such as those
confronting
Andrea da
Firenze (doc.
from 1343- after 1377) in Santa
Maria Novella - the mural he painted
was executed in 156 different
sections - demanded very precise
preliminary studies and a highly
efficient and concentrated
organization of labour. Outside
Italy and the Alps, however, the
frescoed interior of Wienhausen
monastery church from the years
around 1355 and the few other
remnants which survive can only hint
at the role which murals played in
the North. Facade paintings such as
those still visible in a number of
southern German and Alpine regions
must also have commanded a more
prominent presence in daily life
than devotional panels.
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Stained Glass
and
Illuminated
Manuscripts
To
restrict this study to the genres of
wall and panel painting would be to do
an injustice to the very artists who
stood at their fore. From Simone Martini
to Bernat Martorell and Jan van Eyck,
all also turned their hand to designs
for stained-glass windows, tapestries,
and the illumination of manuscripts.
Following the destruction of so many
altarpieces, in many regions stained
glass and manuscript illuminations
remain the only witnesses to
artistic developments. Manuscripts
also have the advantage of facing a
much lower risk of subsequent
deliberate damage, overpainting,
restoration or fading, so that as a
rule they convey the artist's
original intentions much more
directly than panel paintings or
murals. Alongside a number of
miniatures, the present volume also
includes examples of stained glass
and unusual paintings such as the
Hildesheim ceiling
(Master
of the Lower Saxon Workshop).
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Master of the
Lower Saxon Workshop
(active c.
1230-1240)
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Master of the Lower Saxon
Workshop Jesse c. 1240 (from the ceiling of St Michael's
Hildesheim) St Michael's, Hildesheim
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Master of
the Lower Saxon Workshop The Fall c. 1240 (from the ceiling of St Michael's
Hildesheim) St Michael's, Hildesheim
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Everyday art
Finally, it must be remembered that
medieval painters were employed in
another, important sphere of art of
which practically nothing survives.
Even in the accounts of the leading
Gothic masters, more receipts have
survived which refer to the painting
of banners, standards, steeple
balls, festival decorations and the
like than for the production of art
works in the modern sense. The
raising, off Stockholm, of the
warship Wasa, built a century after
the end of the Gothic era, has given
us an insight into the numbers of
woodcarvers and painters who would
have been employed on "artefacts" of
this type. In those days there were
hundreds of such ships, albeit only
a few of such magnificence. In order to appreciate the
significance of such decorative art
for the aesthetic of the Middle
Ages, we need only consider the
impact upon our own daily lives of
film sets and design, and how much
more strongly these affect us than
the works of contemporary artists.
Pop artists such as Andy Warhol,
Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper
Johns have not
been the only ones to reflect this
everyday aesthetic; although the
impermanent art forms of the Middle Ages
are almost entirely lost, the miniatures
by the Master Boucicaut and the Limburg
suggest that their influence was already
strong. Bearing all these factors in
mind, the scattered remains that are
brought together within these pages can
nevertheless offer a colourful and
many-sided picture of the Gothic age in
art.
(Robert Suckale) (Matthias Weniger)
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CONTENTS |
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