For a long time, van Eyck was credited with the invention of oil paints and although this has now been refuted, he certainly perfected and exploited a medium of pigment, oil and varnish that has allowed his rich colors to survive almost unchanged in nearly 600 years. Oil paints enabled him to combine a keen attention to detail and close observation of nature with complex symbolism. In the scale, breadth of vision, realism and techniques of his work, he helped to establish a new style of painting that shaped northern European art for centuries and also made a great impact on Italian Renaissance art. Admired for his accuracy, clarity of color and sharpness of observation, he was commissioned to paint for private clients as well as his work at court.
As with many of the artists who attained fame during this period, there are uncertainties about some of van Eyck’s work. In 1432, he completed the great altarpiece in Ghent Cathedral, the Adoration of the Lamb (also called the Ghent Altarpiece). An inscription on the frame states that the painting was started by “the painter Hubert van Eyck, than whom none was greater” and completed by “Jan, second in art.” It is believed that Hubert was Jan’s elder brother and that he died during the production of the Ghent Altarpiece. The question is: how much did Hubert do? There are no obvious differences in style.
Van Eyck’s style was fresh and new in its detailed and faithful observation of nature. Aided by the smoothness and slow-drying qualities of oil paints, he was particularly skilled at rendering textiles and in depicting light and space. Considering that the representation of linear perspective was relatively new in Italy at this time, van Eyck was remarkably accomplished at it.
Key Works
The Crucifixion 1425–30, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, US
The Ghent Altarpiece 1432, ST BAVON, GHENT, BELGIUM
Portrait of a Man (Self-portrait?) 1433, NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, UK
The Madonna of Canon van der Paele 1436, MUSÉE COMMUNAL DES BEAUX-ARTS, BRUGES, BELGIUM
Virgin and Child with Saints and Donor 1441, THE FRICK COLLECTION, NEW YORK, US
UCCELLO
1397–1475 • RENAISSANCE
The Battle of San Romano
c.1438–40 EGG TEMPERA WITH WALNUT OIL
AND LINSEED OIL ON POPLAR
182 × 320 CM (71 × 126 IN)
NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, UK
Depicting part of the Battle of San Romano fought between Florence and Siena in 1432, this painting shows the leader of the triumphant Florentine army, Niccolò da Mauruzi da Tolentino, on a white horse in a flamboyant turban. The network of broken lances in curiously disciplined rows, angled lances held by soldiers and tiny distant figures show Uccello’s preoccupation with linear perspective and foreshortening.
The paintings of Paolo Uccello were unique, not just for their pioneering use of linear perspective, but also for their story-telling qualities and overall design. An extremely versatile painter, Uccello mixed Gothic traditions with Renaissance investigations, but lost popularity toward the end of his life and was only rediscovered in the 20th century.
At the age of ten, Florentine Paolo di Dono—who became known by his nickname of Uccello (“the bird”)—was apprenticed to the sculptor and goldsmith Lorenzo Ghiberti. In 1414, Uccello entered the painters’ guild, Compagnia di San Luca, and a year later he joined another painters’ guild, Arte dei Medici e degli Speziali. He worked on a variety of media: wood panels, canvas and even mosaic for a while and also designed stained glass and frescoes for Florence’s Duomo.
During the 1430s, influenced by his contemporary Masaccio, Uccello became engrossed with developing linear perspective in painting. His compositions became intricate mathematical designs, focusing on vanishing points and converging lines. He also became influenced by Donatello’s lifelike gestures and tried to incorporate similar expression into his work. He chose colors not for their naturalism, but to create patterns, and he built up networks of shapes and lines across his paintings. Although he used perspective to try to create a feeling of depth and to portray the illusion of another world, his paintings are detailed, decorative and complex.
Uccello’s best-known work is a series of three paintings depicting the Battle of San Romano, which took place in 1432. In each of these, he took care to represent an assortment of armor littering the ground, all converging at a vanishing point. No foreshortened figure had ever been painted, so a fallen warrior within the battle must have caused quite a reaction, even though it is inaccurately small and out of proportion. Even the broken lances lying on the ground were arranged to point toward a common vanishing point.
Uccello’s mathematical arrangements created strange and unnatural appearances, but realism was not his aim. He retained the ornate costumes and accessories of the Gothic style and embellished all his paintings with intricate details. His concern was not as much with light, as with spatial problems. Although his experiments with perspective did not quite work, his illusions of depth on two-dimensional surfaces influenced many younger artists. His work, however did not have lasting popularity and commissions dwindled as tastes changed and people looked for sophistication and elegance in art.
Key Works
Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood 1436, DUOMO, FLORENCE, ITALY
The Deluge 1939–40, SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, CHIOSTRO VERDE, FLORENCE, ITALY
The Hunt in the Forest 1460s, ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, OXFORD, UK
St. George and the Dragon c.1470, NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, UK
VAN DER WEYDEN
1399–1464 • NORTHERN RENAISSANCE
The Descent from the Cross / The Deposition
c.1435–8 OIL ON OAK PANEL
220 × 262 CM (7 ft 2 IN × 8 ft 7 IN)
MUSEO DEL PRADO, MADRID, SPAIN
The lifelike intensity here is poignant and precise. Rejecting a background, van der Weyden has combined detailed observation of Gothic miniature painting with the expressive gestures of Gothic sculpture. The crucified Christ is lowered from the Cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Mary’s swoon echoes her son’s position and the entire scene seems like a stage set. The nine grieving figures that surround Christ’s body are linked physically and emotionally in a flowing rhythm across the work.
One of the most influential painters of the 15th century, Rogier van der Weyden acquired wealth and international acclaim through civic commissions. He became renowned for his detailed and naturalistic paintings, attracting prestigious foreign patrons, including Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and he was imitated by other artists for decades. After his death, his name faded from view, but his reputation was restored in the 20th century.
In the Netherlands, the beginning of the 14th century saw the emergence of a generation of painters with exceptional skills in depicting detail, which had a huge influence on the rest of Western painting. Rogier van der Weyden was one of the greatest of these painters, although he did not sign or date any of his works so their legitimacy and chronology have had to be determined through written records and the comparison of works by other artists.
It seems that van der Weyden became an apprentice relatively late in life, as he entered the workshop of the celebrated artist Robert Campin (c.1375–1444) in his home town of Tournai at the age of 27. By 1432, he had developed even greater skills than his master and by 1436, he was appointed official painter to the city of Brussels. At that point he changed his name from the French “de le Pasture” to its Flemish equivalent, “van der Weyden.” His work showed an influence of van Eyck, but also many differences. Van Eyck used rich, sumptuous colors, while van der Weyden used a lighter, but still dazzling palette. Van Eyck’s figures were restrained, but van der Weyden’s expressed powerful emotions. Van der Weyden produced some secular paintings, but his only surviving works are either religious pictures or portraits. Most significant are his altarpieces of the Passion of Christ and his three-quarter portraits, which created a particularly convincing three-dimensional appearance.