ARS 102 Renaissance to Modern: Module 2 Video 5

• Use of oil paint by Flemish artists

• The Ghent Altarpiece

Today we go back north to northern Europe and to a part of Europe that at the time, in the 15th
century, was known as Flanders. And we're going to talk about Flemish painting during the
15th century and I'm showing you a map here so you get an idea.

Now Flanders is present day Belgium. So, when you're in Belgium, then you know that you're
in what used to be Flanders.

Now the major cities also in Flanders, in the 15th century, were Ghent, Bruges, and Paris.

The other thing to keep in mind is that during this time, during the 15th century, Flanders was a
duchy of Burgundy and we'll hear the Duke of Burgundy as a major figure; his ties to the
burgundy courts, ties to Flanders, in the 15th century.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there was actually a lot of business that was being done
between Flanders and Italy. So, there was a lot of travel, a lot of businessmen who traveled
between Flanders and Italy.

The other major difference that we're going to see is that the art, actually culture, and
particularly visual culture really was quite distinctive in terms of what was happening in
Flemish painting, in Flanders, versus some of the Italian painting that we've already looked at.

Generally, the classical motifs—remember, the humanist turned towards ancient Greece and
Rome—was not as strong or pronounced in Flemish painting or in Flemish culture. Really the
Gothic was much more powerful as an influence in Flemish painting and we'll see ample
evidence of that. So that is very unlike the region states of Florence, or Urbino, or other towns
that we've discussed—that is regions, city-states that we've discussed in Italy to this point.

So, there is a general kind of flowering, of different types of art into what has become known as
the Flemish style. And this style of painting was really greatly admired across Europe. Mostly
Flemish painting is panel painting, which in some ways is more similar to illuminated
manuscripts that we've looked at.

Use of oil paint by Flemish artists

The other distinction is that Flemish painters worked in oil paint and there is a distinctive
quality to oil paint that we will see. Oil paint brings a kind of luminosity and also the ability to
render in great, great detail. And we're going to see very ample evidence of that.
The Ghent Altarpiece
I wanted to begin by discussing this major work, by the painter Jan van Eyck. Now this is
known as the Ghent Altarpiece. It was completed in the year 1432, and actually we know
that Jan van Eyck worked on this painting with his brother.
 Jan Van Eyck. The Ghent Altarpiece, closed (Retable de L' Agneau Mystique fermé.). completed 1432. Artstor, library-artstor-
org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/asset/ALUKASWEBIG_10313648875

And we're not clear actually who did what in the painting. We know that Eyck was a court
painter to the Duke of Burgundy in the city region of Bruges. Now the Ghent Altarpiece, as I
mentioned, was completed in 1432 and it is now located in the cathedral of St Bavo in Ghent.

This is an enormous and complex painting. I'm going to have a lot to say about it. It is a
polyptych, that is, it's not a diptych, or a triptych, but a polyptych because there are so many
scenes and panels that are included within this altarpiece.

Altogether 20 panels, 12 of them on the inside—which are only seen when the altarpiece is
opened—and then eight further panels on the outside. So, there's an exterior and an interior to
this great altarpiece.

I mentioned that van Eyck served in the court of the Duke of Burgundy—that is Philip the
Good, who was a nephew of Philip the Bold. Now Philip the Good hired Jan van Eyck because
of his great skill in painting. There was a distinction though, I've already mentioned some other
distinctions between Flemish painters and Florentine painters for example.

But one major difference or another major difference is that Flemish artists were actually not
celebrated in the way that Florentine artists were. So, in other words, Flemish society did not
really celebrate artistic genius in the way that the Italian city-states did.

However, that said, there still is an account of Jan van Eyck in the records of someone who
worked in the court of the King of Naples. This person was named Bartolomeo Facio—you
don't have to worry about it. Mr. Facio, who was in the court of the King of Naples, wrote about
van Eyck because the King owned a painting by him. And Facio referred to van Eyck as "the
leading painter of our time" in terms of his technical ability—that is, his technical achievements
in painting—and also his use of particular pigments.

Now just another note about differences between Flemish painting and Florentine painting that
we've looked at; Flemish painters, unlike Florentine painters were not as obsessed with
perspective as a system.

Now, as we'll see, we know that Flemish painters did work in aerial perspective and that there is
good evidence of that. We know that they had some knowledge of linear perspective, but they
weren't obsessed with practicing it in the same way that the Florentine were.

Another great characteristic of Flemish artists is an incredible degree of naturalism. We can

even say realism that's achieved by Flemish artists. This actually ties to philosophical and
cultural ideas that were shared in Flanders, in the 15th century, and that were actually
articulated by intellectuals such as Saint Thomas Aquinas. Now Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote
the famous phrase about corporeal metaphors for things spiritual.

So, in the North, in Flanders, there was an idea that things in the world—the objects around us
in the physical world—actually have great spiritual significance.
And the reason for that great significance, was because the Flemish had the idea that God was
suffused in all things in the world. So, the idea is about God is in the details. Well believe me,
there are a lot of details in Flemish painting as we'll see. And so, this has a very deep cultural
and philosophical meaning behind it.

Now that idea about detail and spirituality in the things and details of the world is very, very
different from the Italian concerns that we've seen, or the concerns of Florentine painters.

So, and we'll see then, that there's generally a kind of metaphor that has been proposed for that
difference between Northern Renaissance painting, that is, Flemish painting versus what was
going on in the South of Europe.

And that is generally the idea of a mirror, painting as a kind of mirror, in the North that is
pursued. So, a lot of details that are reflected in the mirror—a mirror as a metaphor
for painting—in Northern Renaissance painting, versus this Florentine idea of the window.

Remember, some of the paintings we've looked at by Masaccio actually open up onto another
world; they are a window onto another world, where detail is not as significant to Florentine
painters in the south of Europe.

Image Citations
Jan Van Eyck. The Ghent Altarpiece, closed (Retable de L' Agneau Mystique fermé.).
completed 1432. Artstor, library-artstor-
org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/asset/ALUKASWEBIG_10313648875