|
The
State of Research in Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish
Art
Martha Wolff
First
of all, I would like to thank Alison Kettering, Martin
Jan Bok and his committee for the decision to begin
with a survey of where we are now and where we might
go. In the fifteenth century I may have fewer objects
than the speakers who come after me, but there are
many unknowns! I will have to be telegraphic in my
comments.
The most striking
conclusion on surveying recent studies in fifteenth-century
art in the Low Countries and neighboring regions is
our current lack of a synthetic view of the subject.
Panofsky's narrative fusing realism and symbolism
in the development of the great Netherlandish painters
now seems too restrictive. It has itself become an
object of historiographic study, like the works of
earlier pioneers of the field such as Gustav Waagen
and James Weale. The new translation of Early Netherlandish
Painting into German by Jochen Sander and Stefan
Kemperdick presents Panofsky's book as a historiographic
monument. Indeed, just in the last fifteen years a
vast amount of new information has come to light,
complicating our view of the artist's working process,
the forces driving the consumption of art, and the
broader social, political and religious context in
which works of art came to life. Moreover, a chorus
of different voices now doubts Panofsky's claim, formulated
in relation to Jan van Eyck that "all reality
is saturated with meaning," or, at any rate,
with meaning that can be deciphered by applying the
appropriate text.
The most striking
instance is Panofsky's famous reading of the Arnolfini
double portrait as a quasi-legal document of a marriage
through symbolic meaning ascribed to everyday objects
such as the faithful dog or the single lighted candle.
Recent technical studies by Rachel Billinge and Lorne
Campbell showed that just these objects, the chandelier,
the man's street shoes and the dog, are not present
in the carefully underdrawn preparation.They were
added in the course of work on the painting, at the
same time as Van Eyck made changes to find the right
form for Arnolfini. Further, we now realize that Giovanni
Arnolfini and Jeanne Cenami ? whose marriage has been
so much discussed ? cannot be the couple in Jan's
painting of 1434. They were not married until 1447
? according to a document recently published by Jacques
Paviot and by Lorne Campbell showing that Philip the
Good paid for their wedding gift in that year. Though
Campbell has provided remarkable biographical detail
on other, previously neglected members of the Arnolfini
clan who could have commissioned the double portrait,
the meaning of the picture remains elusive, not only
because we know little about the couple, but because
the picture itself is so innovative. Without a visual
tradition of similar scenes as the subject for paintings,
we are at a loss to explain its meaning. And yet we
feel ? as viewers have through the centuries ? that
it must have some special meaning.
No new narrative has
taken the place of Panofsky's synthesis. In their
book, Die Erfindung des Gem?ldes, published
in 1993, Hans Belting and Christiane Kruse offer a
stimulating analysis that takes into account the social
pressures between court and town, the uses of devotional
images and portraits, and much new information on
patrons and the making of works of art. The authors
frankly acknowledge a limitation in the way they have
framed their questions, evident even in their title.
The point of view that isolates painting on panel
or canvas is modern and thus retrospective. Their
book seeks to examine the origins of a medium that
came to dominate other types of artistic production
in the North only in later centuries as it was collected,
held up for study by academies of artists, and finally
displayed in museums. There is a growing awareness
that, in the fifteenth century, tapestries and goldsmith
work were more prestigious and expensive, while illustrated
books survive in large enough numbers for their story
to be most completely told. A new synthesis would
need to knit together these different strands, incorporating
not only the wealth of new material, but also the
totality of artistic production. It is the interconnections
between the religious and secular, political and domestic
spheres, between the various media and other allied
areas of patronage such as music that will yield a
truer sense of the aesthetic that governed our period.
I would like to review
very briefly the exciting array of resources that
are now available for the study of fifteenth-century
art. For painting, most remarkable perhaps is the
vast new body of underdrawings retrieved through infrared
reflectography, where only very limited preparatory
material on paper has survived for us to study. Underdrawings
are now published in numerous 'colloque' volumes edited
by Roger van Schoute and H?l?ne Verougstraete, in
recent exemplary collection catalogues from the St?del,
the National Gallery, London, and the Mus?es Royaux
des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, and in studies surveying
the work of individual artists ? notably the Master
of Fl?malle and Rogier van der Weyden by Van Asperen
de Boer and his team and Gerard David by Maryan Ainsworth,
to mention only fifteenth-century examples. This technology
is now being applied to manuscript illumination and
to painting of other times and places. The legibility
of the published documents remains a problem, despite
the advances of direct digital imagery. In order for
this material to be absorbed into the mainstream of
art historical research, more scholars need to examine
the original documents, which are much more informative
than their shrunken reproductions in print. These
will become increasingly available through the good
offices of the RKD, which has already archived documents
from Dolf van Asperen de Boer and Molly Faries. Edwin
Buijsen is in charge of the RKD's project, and he
has kindly made an information sheet on it available
at the registration desk here.
This body of underdrawings
and other new information on artistic practice will
undoubtedly illuminate the surviving works on paper.
We can expect Fritz Koreny's forthcoming corpus of
fifteenth-century Netherlandish drawings on paper
to provide a range of telling connections between
drawings, underdrawings and works in various media,
together with his usual attentiveness to the nuances
of invention and repetition. Wood analysis and dating
(or dendrochronology), mostly undertaken by Peter
Klein, provides important new information for paintings
on oak panels, where there are otherwise few fixed
points. It is most valuable in setting an earliest
point for possible dating, or to link parts of a dismembered
ensemble. Published in collection or exhibition catalogues,
this material is gradually being integrated into larger
studies.
These and other types
of technical analysis have made us more aware of the
collective and tradition-bound nature of painting
workshops. Jellie Dijkstra's study of contracts and
copying procedures is particularly instructive in
showing how the authority of fifteenth-century devotional
models lasted well into the sixteenth century. The
two versions of Rogier's Mary altarpiece from Miraflores
and Granada are a remarkable example of this phenomenon
occurring at the most sophisticated level of patronage.
I would like to dwell on this instance for a minute
since it also illustrates how our own research is
a collective process. The altarpiece in Berlin is
intact, while the version in Granada has been partially
cut ? and its right hand panel showing Christ Taking
Leave of his Mother is now in the Metropolitan
Museum. Scholars had been inclined to regard the triptych
divided between Granada and New York as the first
edition. But in 1981 Rainald Grosshans established
that the triptych in Berlin was the altarpiece by
Master Rogier given by King John II of Castile to
the Charterhouse of Miraflores in 1445. As evidence
he used provenance, substantial changes between the
underdrawing and the final painting of the Berlin
version, and the presence, in the Granada version,
of a consistent perspective system unlikely to be
employed by Rogier himself. I should remind you that
the Granada version was given to the Capilla Real
by King John II's daughter, Isabel the Catholic. In
confirmation of Grosshans's conclusions, dendrochronology
by Peter Klein demonstrated that the wood of the Met's
panel could not have been used before the late fifteenth
century. Working with this and other technical information,
Dijkstra noted in 1990, that the panels from Granada
had a gesso ground conventional for southern European
practice, an indicator that they were made in Spain.
She suggested that this replica of outstanding quality
was made by a Flemish-trained painters working for
Isabel the Catholic, Juan de Flandes or, more likely
by Michel Sittow. Subsequently, dendrochronological
analysis of the Granada panels and of parts of another
altarpiece made by Juan de Flandes for Isabel the
Catholic at Miraflores in 1496 to 1499 showed that
both were made from the same lot of [Baltic!] wood
(I am showing the panel of the Birth of Saint John
the Baptist now in Cleveland from Juan de Flandes's
altarpiece devoted to Saint John). This confirmation
that both the faithful copy after Rogier and Juan
de Flandes's Saint John Altarpiece were painted
in the same time and place was published by Catheline
P?rier d'Ieteren and her colleagues in 1993. Recently
she and Maryan Ainsworth have each argued that Juan
de Flandes painted the copy after Rogier, while Suzanna
Urbach identified a panel formerly in a Hungarian
private collection as the last missing segment of
the Saint John Altarpiece. This extraordinary
case shows the authority of Rogier's model and the
care taken to duplicate Netherlandish materials and
techniques even in Spain half a century later. (In
the spirit of the Bruges exhibition organized by Till
Borchert, I should digress and add that this attentiveness
to Netherlandish painting practice by Spanish patrons
was not isolated. For special commissions the use
of 'Flemish oak' might be stipulated in the contract
? as in Dalmau's Eyckian Virgin of the Councillors
commissioned in 1443 by the city government of
Barcelona. And we have found that 'Flemish' ? or more
correctly Baltic oak, presumably transshipped through
Flanders ? was used for Bernard Martorell's Saint
George in Chicago, probably commissioned by the
Barcelona city government for their chapel about 1435.
To new technical evidence
we need to add a re-examination of documentary sources
that goes beyond or looks critically at the compilations
of nineteenth-century archivists. Elisabeth Dhanens
and Max Martens have stressed the ambiguity and second-hand
nature of the much-parsed Tournai guild records of
Rogier van der Weyden in the workshop of Robert Campin.
Combined with recently discovered documents suggesting
Rogier's continued presence in Tournai to 1435 and
with newly available underdrawings, this has led to
the re-opening of attribution issues raised by the
presence of Rogier in Campin's busy and crowded studio.
Studies by Campbell, Ch?telet, De Vos, Dijstra, and
Kemperdick ? some of them timed to coincide with Rogier's
500th birthday in 1999 ? take on these issues, providing
many fresh insights, but, as might be expected, no
resolution. Again the collective nature of painting
practice emerges.
Attention to documentary
evidence has produced important results in relation
to goldsmithwork as well. Hugo van der Velden has
shown how much has been overlooked in the careers
of court goldmsiths. Especially notable is his evidence
for the high fees commanded by Loyet and Van Vlueten;
these should be compared with artists working in other
media. More comparative studies of inventories like
Jenny Stratford's examination of the Bedford and Valois
records could be very valuable. Renate Eikelmann used
inventories, manuals, and other records together with
chemical analysis to locate some important enamel
pieces in the Burgundian Netherlands earlier than
previously supposed.
Goldsmithwork held
great intrinsic value and prestige, and played an
important role in establishing a broader aesthetic,
particularly for the early fifteenth century. The
splendor of the few surviving works has been evident
in outstanding exhibitions, particularly the 1995
exhibition of the Goldenes R?ssl at the Bayerisches
Nationalmuseum following its restoration. This extraordinary
joyau representing Charles VI of France kneeling
before the Virgin and Child and their youthful court
was a gift to the king from his wife at New Year's,
1405. It vividly demonstrates the luminosity and
realism of metalworking techniques. These marvelous
photographs, made when the image was disassembled
after restoration, convey the extravagant richness
of the gold support, either left bare or covered in
opaque and translucent enamels (this is the interior
of the figure of the Virgin seen from the back ? and
this is the upper portion of the king's figure with
the praying hands just visible). Gold was the metal
of choice, not only because of its intrinsic value,
but because it was necessary for the effect of the
prized translucent red enamel or rouge cler,
first introduced in the second half of the fourteenth
century. A comparison of the luminosity of repeated
layers of translucent enamel over gold with repeated
layers of oil glazes seems to me inevitable.
Interest in another
luxury medium ? tapestry ? has been expressed in several
exhibitions of prime examples. A major exhibition
summarizing recent work is opening at this moment
at the Metropolitan Museum. Tapestry in the Renaissance:
Art and Magnificence, organized by Tom Campbell,
will bring together an extraordinary group of tapestries
and related drawings from 1460 to 1560, and in June
the Met will host an international symposium (June
6-8, 2002) on the making, marketing, patronage and
function of Renaissance tapestries. Recent scholarship
emphasizes the complexity of tapestry production.
The patron, the author of the program, the artists
who made the preliminary patterns, painted the cartoons,
and wove the tapestries, and the entrepreneur who
sold them ? all might be in different locations. Even
in rare instances when tapestries, preparatory material,
and documents do survive from this early period, as
in the case of the history of Troy series shown here,
it is difficult to sort out their relationship. Scot
McKendrick has proposed that the numerous documented
sets of eleven tapestries of the History of Troy
were made on spec by the Grenier family of entrepreneurs
in Tournai for sale to interested princely houses.
The workings of the tapestry industry are relevant
for students of the marketing of paintings or sculpted
altarpieces, particularly with respect to patterns,
sub-contracting, and export. The key role of tapestry
narrative cycles in dynastic and political image-making
is only now receiving much needed study. Jeff Smith
signaled a beginning and Birgit Franke has followed
up in a recent book on the story of Queen Esther at
the Burgundian court ? taking drama, pageantry and
court ceremony into account.
The question of narrative
brings us to the book, where there has been a real
explosion of information, resources and analysis.
While a previously unpublished painting is a great
rarity, the emergence of a previously unknown manuscript
is a relatively common occurrence. I show a newly
discovered leaf from the much-discussed Turin-Milan
Hours recently acquired by the Getty Museum and soon
to be published by James Marrow in the Revue de
l'Art, together with the Virgin and Child from
Campin's workshop discovered a few years ago and acquired
by the National Gallery, London. In manuscript studies
too, exhibitions offer an excellent opportunity for
interdisciplinary research. Thom Kren and Scot McKendrick
are organizing a major exhibition for the Getty and
the Royal Academy in 2003 to deal with the last flowering
of Flemish illumination, touching on its relation
to panel painting. Catherine Reynolds and Maryan Ainsworth
will also contribute to the catalogue. In general
manuscript research has also focused on questions
of production. There has been an outpouring of new
tools that make scattered material available for study,
among them collection catalogues, facsimiles, and
surveys of various regional centers of production.
The production of important workshops has been defined
in extensively illustrated monographs like Gregory
Clark's volume on the Master of the Privileges of
Ghent, Bernard Bousmanne's on Willem Vrelant, and
Bodo Brinkmann's on the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook.
Jonathan Alexander has provided a very useful guide
to illuminator's methods of work, and Anne Van Buren
is bringing her much anticipated comparative study
of costume in dated manuscripts to a conclusion We
now have monographs on important texts and their illustrative
cycles ? the Bible moralis?e, the Speculum
Humanae Salvationis, the Dialogues of Pierre
Salmon and others. Readership, patronage, and the
use of devotional texts like the book of hours have
been probed. Questions of artistic personality have
received lively debate. Thus, the date and identity
of the brilliant Hand G of the Turin-Milan Hours
continues to be an issue. The oeuvre of the Master
of Mary of Burgundy has been narrowed and the connection
of the books he illuminated to Mary of Burgundy has
been called into question, though not the artist's
hypersensitive genius.
The question remains
? how do we bring a new synthesis out of this wealth
of fresh information? How do we continue our fruitful
investigation of the artistic process without forgetting
to ask questions about meaning? How do we account
for the emergence of a succession of great creative
personalities when much artistic production was bound
by tradition and routine? We can begin by paying more
attention to the social context in which the objects
resided ? to contemporary hierarchies of value. We
need to think more about questions of social practice
and display in this period, combining this with the
more nuanced view of the artist's working process
that we now possess. We now recognize that in the
fifteenth century the court and the nobility preferred
to invest in goldsmith work and tapestries, while
the administrative class, the urban patriciate, and
the guilds (and, interestingly, foreign princes),
patronized painters. Hence, we should be attentive
to upward mobility and the deployment of indicators
of social status. Historians of the Burgundian court
and administration have pointed the way here. Ceremonial
and etiquette, the organization of palaces and houses,
costume, the legal and practical details of religious
endowments all have much to tell us, particularly
in the way they may differ among various social groups.
By looking at art through the prism of this broader
social context, we will gain a sense of how the image
of the artist changes during this period. For example,
it would be worthwhile to consider when paintings
were first given as diplomatic gifts in the North,
in place of tapestry or jewelry. If we pay more attention
to texts and contexts describing the fabric of life
in the fifteenth century, such as El?onore de Poitiers'
Les Honneurs de la Cour (newly edited by Jacques
Paviot), we may gain a better sense of the permeable
nature of the boundary between the sacred and the
secular.
The notes added into
this lecture text are intended to give readers a succinct
bibliographical guide to recent literature. In almost
every instance they could be considerably expanded,
as could the topics touched on in the brief talk.
Nevertheless, I hope that they will some useful guideposts
for an exploration of recent research in fifteenth-century
Netherlandish art.
1. Erwin Panofsky,
Die altniederl?ndische Malerei. Ihr Ursprung und
Wesen, translated by Jochen Sander and Stefan
Kemperdick, Cologne, 2001. Explorations of the philosophical,
cultural, and biographical bases for Panofsky's art
history include, Michael Ann Holly, Panofsky and
the Foundations of Art History, Ithaca, N.Y.,
1984 and Keith Moxey, "Motivating Art History:
Panofsky and Nationalism," Art Bulletin,
77 (1995), pp. 392-401. On Waagen, see, Gabriele Bickendorf,
Der Beginn der Kunstgeschichtsschreibung unter
dem Paradigma 'Geschichte': Gustav Friedrich Waagens
Fr?hschrift 'Ueber Hubert und Johann van Eyck' (Heidelberger
kunstgeschichtliche Abhandlungen, N.F., 18), Heidelberg,
1983. On Weale, see Lori van Biervliet, Leven en
Werk van W.H. Weale, een Engels Kunsthistoricus in
Vlaanderen in de 19de eeuw (Koninklijke Academie
voor Wettenschapen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van
BelgiI, Klasse der Schone Kunsten, Verhandelingen,
no. 55), Brussels, 1991.
2. For this trend,
see Craig Harbison, "Realism and Symbolism in
Early Flemish Painting," Art Bulletin,
66 (1984), pp. 588-602, Jan Baptist Bedaux, The
Reality of Symbols. Studies in the Iconology of Netherlandish
Art, 1400-1800, The Hague, 1990, and Reindert
Falkenburg, "The Household of the Soul: Conformity
in the M?rode Triptych," and Peter Parshall,
"Commentary: Conformity or Contrast," both
in Metropolitan Museum of Art, Early Netherlandish
Painting at the Crossroads. A Critical Look at Current
Methodologies, ed., Maryan Ainsworth, New York,
2001, pp. 1-17 and 18-25.
3. Rachel Billinge
and Lorne Campbell, "The Infra-Red Reflectograms
of Jan van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini
and his Wife," National Gallery Technical
Bulletin, 16 (1995), pp. 47-60 and Lorne Campbell,
The National Gallery Catalogues. The Fifteenth
Century Netherlandish Schools, London, 1998, pp.
174-211.
4. This document
is discussed in Campbell 1998, pp. 195 and 209, as
in preceding note, and Jacques Paviot "Le double
portrait Arnolfini de Jan van Ecyk," Revue
belge d'arch?ologie et de l'histoire de l'art, 66
(1997), pp. 19-33. It is published in full by Hugo
van der Velden, "Defrocking St Eloy: Petrus Christus'
Vocational Portrait of a Goldsmith," Simiolus,
26 (1998), pp. 268-269, doc. no. 2.
5. Hans Belting and
Christiane Kruse, Die Erfindung des Gem?ldes. Das
erste Jahrhundert der niederl?ndischen Malerei, Munich,
1994. Several collections of essays offer notable
surveys of topics and points of view on painting:
"Om iets te weten van de oude meesters."
De vlaamse primitieven: herontdekking, waardering
en onderzoek, ed. Bernhard Ridderbos and Henk
van Veen, Nijmegen, 1995, and Les primitifs flamands
et leurs temps, ed. Roger van Schoute and Brigitte
de Patoul, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1994. Another survey
volume, Die Kunst der Burgundische Niederlande:
Eine EinfY(R)hrung, ed. Birgit Franke and Barbara
Wenzel, Berlin, 1997, extends this approach to other
media.
6. The volumes of
papers given at the biennial colloque 'pour l'Etude
du dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture' are published
by the Universit? Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve.
Collection catalogues fully utilizing this material
include Jochen Sander, Niederl?ndische Gem?lde
im St?del 1400-1550, Mainz, 1993 (with contributions
by Stephan Knoblauch and Peter Klein), Campbell (1998)
as in n. 3 above, and Cyriel Stroo, Pascale Syfer
d'Olne et al., The Flemish Primitives: Catalogue
of Early Netherlandish Painting in the Royal Museums
of Fine Arts, Belgium, Turnhout, 1996 (two volumes
devoted to Rogier van der Weyden and his followers
and to Bouts, Christus, Memling, and Van der Goes).
Among specialized studies, see J.R.J. van Asperen
de Boer, J. Dijkstra, R. van Schoute, et al.,
"Underdrawings in Paintings of the Rogier van
der Weyden and Master of Fl?malle Groups," Nederlands
Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 41 (1990) and Maryan
Wynn Ainsworth, Gerard David, Purity of Vision
in an Age of Transition, New York, 1998.
7. Edwin Buijsen,
Curator of Research and Technical Documentation at
the RKD, made this description available at the conference:
"The aim of the
project is to create at the RKD an archive of technical
research data which can be consulted by scholars,
students and other people interested in the material
aspects of paintings. At present the bulk of the available
material concerns infrared reflectography (IRR) and
consists of three components:
1) the archive of
Prof. J.R.J. Van Asperen de Boer, mainly consisting
of hand assemblies and photo-negatives of his IRR-research
(ca. 1800 rolls);
2) the archive of
Prof. Molly Faries consisting of photo-negatives (ca.
1400 rolls);
3) IRR-images made
with the camera belonging to the RKD, consisting of
a small number of photo-negatives and, from 1997 onwards,
frame-grabbed material.
As a first step in
archiving this material and disclosing it for public
use, a computerized data-base has been developed.
This now includes data of the IRR examination of more
than 1000 paintings, including many Early Netherlandish
works from the 15th and 16th centuries, but also a
considerable number of Italian and German paintings,
seventeenth-century Dutch masters such as Frans Hals
and Jan van Goyen, and even much later artists such
as Monet and Mondrian. At this moment the data-base
is for internal use only, but we plan to make it accessible
for researchers through the RKD's website. At the
RKD we are now in the process of digitizing the photo-negatives
of Van Asperen de Boer and Faries, but it will still
take many years before this is completed.
One can
personally consult the available material (original
hand assemblies and/or digitized photo-negatives)
at the RKD, after making an appointment first (and
provided the material is not restricted). It is also
possible to inquire for specific material by sending
a letter, fax or e-mail. Then we can provide lists
of the available material. Upon request and against
payment we can make photographs of hand assemblies
or make computer assemblies of digitized photo-negatives
for further study or for publication (which is only
allowed with permission by the owner of the painting).
In special cases the RKD enables experienced IRR researchers
? other than RKD staff ? to make computer assemblies
of digitized IRR images (provided they comply with
all restrictions governing this material).
It is
our aim to further enlarge the archive by encouraging
other experts, both from the academic and the museum
world, to make their research material available.
Besides IRR-material also the results of other forms
of technical research will be included in the near
future, as well as documentation related to the restoration
of paintings."
8. Maryan Ainsworth's
monograph on Gerard David cited in n. 6 above is a
model for the integration of dendrochronological analysis
into a larger study. For dendrochronological analysis
in connection with recent exhibitions, see Peter Klein,
"Dendrochronological Findings of the Bouts Group,"
in Bouts Studies. Proceedings of the International
Colloquium (Leuven, 26-28 November 1998), ed.
Bert Cardon, Maurits Smeyers, Roger van Schoute, and
H?l?ne Verougstraete, Leuven, Paris, Sterling, Virginia,
2001, pp. 411-422, and idem., "Dendrochronological
Analysis of Works by Hieronymus Bosch and his Followers,"
in Museum Boijmans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Hieronymus
Bosch. New Insights into his Life and Work, exhib.
cat., ed. Jos Koldeweij, Bernard Vermet, and Barbera
van Kooij, 2001, pp. 121-131.
9. Jeltje Dijkstra,
Origineel en kopie: en onderzoek naar de navolging
van de Meester van Fl?malle en Rogier van der Weyden,
Amsterdam, 1990.
10. Rainald Grosshans,
"Rogier van der Weyden: Der Marienaltar aus des
Kartauses Miraflores," Jahrbuch der Berliner
Museen, 23 (1981), 49-112 and idem., "Infrarotuntersuchungen
zum Studium der Unterzeichnung auf den Berliner Alt?ren
von Rogier van der Weyden," Jahrbuch preussischer
Kulturbesitz, 19 (1982), pp. 137-177.
11. Peter Klein, "Dendrochronological
Studies on Oak Panels of Rogier van der Weyden and
his Circle," in Le dessin sous-jacent dans
la peinture. Colloque VII 17-19 septembre 1987, Louvain-la
Neuve, 1989, pp. 28 and 33; see also Maryan W. Ainsworth,
"Implications of Revised Attributions in Netherlandish
Painting," Metropolitan Museum Journal
(Essays in Memory of Guy C. Bauman), 27 (1992), pp.
59-68.
12. Dijkstra 1990,
pp. 78-109, esp. p. 92, as in n. 9 above.
13. C. P?rier-d'Ieteren,
A. Rinuy, J. Vynckier, and L. Kockaert, Apport
des m?thodes d'investigation scientifique ^ l'?tude
de deux peintures attribu?es ^ Juan de Flandes,
Geneva 41 (1993), pp. 107-118.
14. Catheline P?rier-d'Ieteren,
"Le Retable de la Vierge de la Capilla Real de
Grenade et les peintres d'Isabelle de Castille,"
Revue belge d'arch?ologie et d'histoire de l'art,
67 (1998), pp. 3-26, and Maryan W. Ainsworth,
"Commentary: An Integrated Approach," in
Metropolitan Museum of Art 2001, pp. 110-113 (as
in n. 2 above); for the Ecce Agnus Dei from
the Saint John altarpiece, see Zsuzsa Urbach, "An
Early Netherlandish Painting Formerly in a Hungarian
Private Collection," KY(R)l?nlenyomat a MY(R)v?stzett?rt?neti
?rtes't?, 50 (2001), pp. 1-13 (in Hungarian with
English summary on pp. 12-13). The present whereabouts
of the panel, formerly in the L?fkovits collection
and deposited in the museum in Debrecen before World
War II, are unknown. The known panels from Juan de
Flandes' altarpiece are reunited in the exhibition
Jan van Eyck, de Vlaamse Primitieven en het Zuiden,
at the Groeningen Museum, Bruges, until June 30.
15. Judith Berg Sobr?,
Behind the Altar Table, the Development of the
Painted Retable in Spain, 1350-1500, Columbia,
Missouri, 1989, pp. 29, 51, 167-8, 213-4, 288-97 (transcribing
and translating the contract).
16. Judith Berg Sobr?,
in Martha Wolff et al., Netherlandish, French,
German, and Spanish Paintings before 1600 in The Art
Institute of Chicago, forthcoming, citing Peter
Klein's dendrochronological analysis.
17. Elisabeth Dhanens,
Rogier van der Weyden. Revisie van de documenten,
(Koninklijke Academie voor Wettenschapen, Letteren
en Schone Kunsten van Belgi', Klasse der Schone Kunsten,
Verhandelingen, no. 59), revised as Elisabeth Dhanens
and Jellie Dijkstra, Rogier de la Pasture van der
Weyden. Introduction ^ l'oeuvre, relire des sources,
Tournai, 1999, and Maximiliaan P. J. Martens, "Approaches
to the Heuristics of Early Netherlandish Art,"
in Metropolitan Museum of Art 2001, pp. 26-39 (as
in n. 2 above).
18. Lorne Campbell,
"Rogier van der Weyden and his Workshop,"
Proceedings of the British Academy, 84 (1994),
pp. 1-24; Albert Ch?telet, Rogier van der Weyden:
probl?mes de la vie et de l'oeuvre, Strasbourg,
1999; Dirk de Vos, Rogier van der Weyden. The Complete
Works, Antwerp, 1999; Dijkstra 1999, as in preceding
note; and Stephan Kemperdick, Der Meister von Fl?malle:
die Werkstatt Robert Campins und Rogier von der Weydens,
Turnhout, 1997 and idem., Rogier van der Weyden,
1399/1400-1464, trans. Anthea Bell, Cologne, 1999.
For the documents that may refer to Rogier's activity
in Tournai, see J. Dumoulin and J. Pijcke, Comptes
de la paroisse Sainte-Marguerite de Tournai au XVe
si?cle. Documents in?dits relatifs ^ Rogier de la
Pasture, Robert Campin et d'autres artisans tournaisiens
(Tournai, Art et Histoire, 7), Tournais and Louvain-la-Neuve,
1993, pp. 279-320 and Dhanens and Dijkstra 1999, pp.
156-57; for the underdrawings, see Van Asperen de
Boer et al. 1990, as in n. 6 above and Grosshans
1981 and 1982, as in n. 10 above.
19. Hugo van der Velden
1998, as in n. 4 above, and idem., The Donor's
Image: Gerard Loyet and the Votive Portraits of Charles
the Bold, Turnhout, 2000.
20. Jenny Stratford,
The Bedford Inventories: the Worldly Goods of John,
Duke of Bedford, Regent of France (1389-1435),
London, 1993.
21. Renate Eikelmann,
"'mit Niderlenndischen schmelzwerch': Das Regensburger
Emailk?stchen," in SchatzkammerstY(R)cke aus
der Herbstzeit des Mittelalters: das Regensburger
Emailk?stchen und sein Umkreis, exhib. cat. Bayerisches
Nationalmuseum, Munich, 1992, pp. 37-58. See also
Helmut Trnek, "Burgund oder Venedig? Zur entwicklungsgeschichtlichen
Stellung des sogenannten Burgundischen Emails,"
in Naturwissenschaft in der Kunst. Beitrag der
Naturwissenschaften zur Erforschung und Erhaltung
unseres kulturellen Erbes, ed. Manfred Schreiner,
Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar, 1995, pp. 37-47.
22. Reinhold Baumstark,
ed., Das Goldenes R?ssl: ein Meisterwerk der Pariser
Hofkunst um 1400, exhib. cat. Bayerisches Nationalmuseum,
Munich, 1995.
23. The chemical properties
of enamel types introduced in the fourteenth century
are analyzed by Mark T. Wypyski and Rainer W. Richter,
"Preliminary Compositional Study of 14th- and
15th-Century European Enamels," Techn?,
no. 6 (1997), pp. 48-57.
24. Notable exhibitions
such as those of the holdings of the Patrimonio Nacional
have focussed on the early sixteenth century, however;
see Guy Delmarcel et al., Golden Weavings: Flemish
Tapestries of the Spanish Crown, exhib. cat.,
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, Gaspard de Wit
Foundation, Mechelen, and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,
1993, and Arlette Smolar-Meynart, Age d'or bruxellois:
tapisseries de la couronne d'Espagne, exhib. cat.,
Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudule, Brussels,
2000.
25. This point is
emphasized by Fabienne Joubert, La tapisserie (Institut
des ?tudes M?di?vales, Typologie des sources du moyen
?ge occidental, B-I.B.4), Turnhout, 1993 (with extensive
bibliography) and idem., "Les tapisseries de
la fin de moyen ?ge: commandes, destination, circulation,"
Revue de l'Art, no. 120 (1998), pp. 89-99.
26. Scot McKendrick,
"The Great History of Troy: A Reassessment of
the Development of a Secular Theme in Late Medieval
Art," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld
Institutes, 54 (1991), pp. 43-82.
27. Jeffrey Chipps
Smith, "Portable Propaganda: Tapestries as Princely
Metaphors at the Courts of Philip the Good and Charles
the Bold," Art Journal, 48 (1989), pp.
123-129 and Birgit Franke, Assuerus und Esther
am Burgunderhof: zur Rezeption des Buches Esther
in den Niederlanden (1450-1530), Berlin, 1998.
28. Among collection
catalogues, particularly exemplary are the volumes
on Dutch and Flemish manuscripts from the ...sterreichisches
Nationalbibliothek begun by Otto P?cht and continued
by Ulrike Jenni and Dagmar Thoss and those from the
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, under the direction
of Lilian Randall. Among numerous facsimiles, the
complementary volumes on the so-called Turin-Milan
Hours are especially notable: Eberhard K?nig, Gabriele
Bartz et al., Die Bl?tter im Louvre und das verlorene
Turiner Gebetbuch, RF 2022-2025, D?partement des arts
graphiques, Mus?e du Louvre, Paris und Handschrift
K.IV.29, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria, Torino,
Lucerne, 1994 and Anne van Buren, James Marrow,
and Silvana Pettanati, Das Turiner-Mail?nder Stundenbuch,
Lucerne, 1994 (commentary 1996). The range of
regional studies is evident from the volumes of essays,
Masters and Miniatures: Proceedings of the Congress
on Medieval Manuscript Illumination in the Northern
Netherlands (Utrecht 10-13 December, 1989), ed.
Koert van der Horst and Johann-Christian Klamt, Doornspijk,
1991, and Flanders in a European Perspective: Manuscript
Illumination around 1400 in Flanders and Abroad: Proceedings
of the International Colloquium, Leuven 7-10 September
1993, ed. Maurits Smeyers and Bert Cardon, Leuven,
1995. Studies of neighboring regions are also relevant;
see for example Kathleen L. Scott, Survey of Manuscripts
Illuminated in the British Isles. Later Gothic Manuscripts
1390-1490, London, 1996 and Susie Nash, Between
France and Flanders. Manuscript Illumination in Amiens,
London and Toronto, 1999.
29. Gregory T. Clark,
Made in Flanders. The Master of the Ghent Privileges
and Manuscript Painting in the Southern Netherlands
in the Time of Philip the Good, Turnhout, 2000;
Bernard Bousmann, "Item a Guillaume Wyelant
aussi enlumineur". Willem Vrelant. Un aspect
de l'enluminure dans las Pays-Bas m?ridionaux des
ducs de Bourgogne Philippe le Bon et Charles le T?m?raire,
Turnhout, 1997; and Bodo Brinkmann, Die Fl?mische
Buchmalerei am Ende des Burgunderreichs. Der Meister
des Dresdener Begetbuch und die Miniaturisten seiner
Zeit, Turnhout, 1997. These and other extensively
illustrated volumes are part of Brepols's substantial
contribution to literature on fifteenth-century art.
30. J. J. G. Alexander,
Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work,
New Haven, 1992.
31. She reports that
this study of dress and costume in the art of northern
Europe from 1325 to 1515 will be published in conjunction
with a major exhibition at the Morgan Library organized
by Rogier Wieck for 2006. It will include an album
of dated images, an English and French glossary, and
essays addressing issues including the medieval attitude
towards dress and artists' use of realistic or fantastic
costume.
32. John Lowden, The
Making of the Bibles Moralis?es, University Park,
Penn., 2000; Bert Cardon, Manuscipts of the
Speculum Humanae Salvationis in the Southern Netherlands,
c. 1410-c. 1470: A Contribution to the Study of Fifteenth-Century
Book iIlumination and of the Function and Meaning
of Historical Symbolism, Leuven, 1996; and Anne
Dawson Hedeman, Of Counselors and Kings: The Three
Versions of Pierre Salmon's Dialogues, Urbana,
Ill., 2001.
33. On the book of
hours, see Roger S. Wieck, Time Sanctified. The
Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life, exhib.
cat. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1988, and
Paul Saenger, "Books of Hours and Reading Habits
in the Later Middle Ages," in The Culture
of Print: Power and the Uses of Print in Early Modern
Europe, ed. Rogier Chartier, Princeton, 1989,
pp. 141-173. Studies of patronage have emphasized
that of the Burgundian dukes, but have also extended
to the duchesses, thereby serving as a beginning to
study of women as patrons; see Patrick M. de Winter,
La Biblioth?que de Philippe le Hardi, duc de Bourgogne
(1364-1414), Paris, 1985; Laetitia Le Guay, Les
princes de Bourgogne lecteurs de Froissart. Les rapports
entre le texte et l'image dans les manuscrits enlumin?s
du Livre IV des Chroniques, Turnhout, 1998; Margaret
of York, Simon Marmion, and the Visions of Tondal:
Papers delivered at a Symposium Organized by the Department
of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Collaboration
with the Huntington Library and Art Collections, 21-24
June, 1990, ed. Thomas Kren, Malibu, 1992; Claudine
Lemaire and Mich?le Henry, Isabelle de Portugal,
duchesse de Bourgogne, 1397-1471, exhib. cat.,
Biblioth?que royale Albert Ier, Brussels, 1991.
34. For opinions for
and against Hand G's identification as Jan van Eyck,
see Hans Belting and Dagmar Eichberger, Jan van
Eyck als Erz?hler: frY(R)he Tafelbilder im Umkreis der
New Yorker Doppeltafel, Worms, 1983; Maurits Smeyers,
"Answering Some Questions about the Turin-Milan
Hours," in Colloque VII, 1989, pp. 55-70,
as in n. 11 above; Albert Ch?telet, Jan van Eyck
enlumineur: les Heures de Turin et de Milan-Turin,
Strasbourg, 1993; Van Buren 1994, as in n. 28
above; James Marrow, "History, Historiography,
and Pictorial Invention in the Turin-Milan Hours,"
in In Detail: New Studies of Northern Renaissance
Art in Honor of Walter S. Gibson, ed. Laurinda
S. Dixon, Turnhout, 1998, pp. 1-14; Catherine Reynolds,
"'The King of Painters'," in Investigating
Jan van Eyck, ed. Susan Foister, Sue Jones, and
Delphine Cool, Turnhout, 2000, pp. 1-16.
35. See Eberhard K?nig,
Fedja Anzelewsky, Bodo Brinkmann, and Frauke Steenbock,
Das Berliner Stundenbuch der Maria von Burgund
und Kaiser Maximilians, exhib. cat., Kupferstichkabinett,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
1998 and Brinkmann 1997, as in n. 29 above.
36. A number of scholars
have pointed to these broad patterns of patronage
and use, among them, Craig Harbison, Jan van Eyck:
The Play of Realism, London, 1991; Maximilaan
Martens, "La client?le du peintre," in Van
Schoute and Patoul 1994, pp. 144-179, as in n. 5,
above, and Jeffrey Chipps Smith, "The Practical
Logistics of Art: Thoughts on the Commissioning, Displaying
and Storing of Art at the Burgundian Court,"
in In Detail 1998, pp. 27-48, as in n. 34 above.
37. For example, Hermann
Kamp, Memoria und Selbstdarstellung: die Stiftungen
des Burgundischen Kanzlers Rolin, Sigmaringen,
1993, and the studies of Werner Paravicini on the
structure of the Burgundian court, among them "Soziale
Schichtung und sociale Mobilit?t am Hof der Herz?ge
von Burgund," Francia, 5 (1977), pp. 127-182
and "Die Hofordnung Philips des Gutens,"
Francia, 13 (1985), PP. 191-211.
38. Jacques Paviot,"El?onore
de Poitiers, Les Etats de France (les honneurs de
la Cour)," Annuaire-Bulletin de la Soci?t?
de l'Histoire de France (1998), pp. 75-137.
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