The Spread of Humanist Art
From its inception, the influence of the humanist movement spread
across Europe. The church councils set up in the early part of the
15th century served as meeting points, providing opportunities for
cultural exchanges and increasing the circulation in Europe of
classical manuscripts and new artistic ideas. For example,
Masolino
worked in Hungary between 1425 and 1427 in the retinue of Cardinal
Branda Castiglioni. Through this connection, the ruler, Matthias Corvino (1440—90), commissioned a series of illuminated manuscripts
by the most important studios of the Po valley in the second half of
the century. Through these contacts the slow penetration of Italian
artistic and architectural ideas into western and northern Europe
began. While the Gothic style prevailed, some of these new ideas
were adopted, especially the excessively antiquarian style of the
sculptors of the Po valley, which was evidently more in keeping with
the Gothic ideal than the diversity of perspectival and
compositional themes advocated by
Leon Battista Alberti. The Late
Gothic culture of the Burgundian courts had encouraged a realistic
attention to detail. The quest for an ideal luminosity of colour was
pursued by an assortment of Flemish artists who were capable of
combining the sculptural values favoured by
Claus Sluter (active
c.1380) and his followers with a firm grasp of perspective that
accentuated the feeling of depth in their paintings. This marked the
birth of a vigorous pictorial tradition that extended from the Low
Countries to the Alsace of
Martin Schongauer
(1453-91). It conquered
even the most sophisticated Italian courts, like those of Florence.
Ferrara, and Urbino, with the works of
van der Weyden,
Justus of
Ghent,
Hugo van der
Goes (c. 1435-82), and
Pedro Berruguete
(c.1450-1504) becoming popular. Before long, the "infinite
landscapes" of
van Eyck were emulated, with urban features added, in
the portraits of Battista Sforza and Federico da Montefeltro painted
by
Piero della Francesca.
The great age of Flemish painting, which was supported by the
thriving merchants of Flanders, marked the rise of the technique of
painting with oils on panels. The skill and vibrancy of their work
allowed the artists to give the fullest possible expression to
Flemish figurative ideals, which originated in the workshops
producing illuminated books such as the Les Tres Riches Heures du
Duc de Berry, illustrated by the
Limbourg Brothers and
Jacquemart de Hesdin in about 1410. The polyptych of the
Adoration of the Lamh, painted by the brothers
Hubert and
Jan
van Eyck in 1432. was erected in Ghent Cathedral. At about that
time. Jan painted the Arnolfini Marriage and the Rolin
Madonna, which displayed a masterly use of colour that defined
with vibrant precision the smallest and most distant detail, in an
almost photographic manner. Portrait painters sought to idealize
human characteristics, while the ample draperies of the costumes
gave a solid presence to the figures, who were often absorbed in
reflection and clearly contained in their own space. This decade
also saw the start of the career of
Rogier van der Weyden, who had
an intense interest in the compositional and sculptural themes of
wooden sculpture. He dramatically articulated complex forms in his
compositions, accentuating his animated figures, and their
unambiguous gestures and expressions. It is clear that the artist's
consuming interest was for the figures as compositional factors, and
the Madonna of San Luca shows his sensitivity, which allows
subtle variations of emotion in his figures to disturb the
symmetrical limitations that his predecessors imposed on their work.
His journey to Italy in 1450 involved an exchange of works and ideas
with other artists, and the impact of this can be best traced in
portraiture. While
van der Weyden accepted the influence of Italian
painting, the Bruges artist
Hans Memling (c.1430-94) exemplified the
distinctiveness of Flemish art, by developing and expanding the
compositional techniques within his own culture. Also in Bruges.
Petrus Christus
(died c.1475) was influenced by
van Eyck, but in a
more simplified style and with an intimate, devotional tone, while
Dieric Bouts (died 1475) showed great affinity with
van der Weyden -
he painted figures set in beautiful, shimmering landscapes. Bouts
also experimented with perspective, and was highly influential. His
major work was the altarpiece in the church of St Pierre in Louvain.
Painting in the north, then, was also going through a radical
transformation, with innovations of techniques and ideas in
figurative and landscape painting.
