Chapter 15 LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY RENAISSANCE

NORTHERN EUROPE , 1400 - 1500

Study Guide & Questions

BURGUNDY AND FLANDERS

When reading pages 422 - 434:
1. As the 15th century opened what two developments were of significance
and had a dramatic impact on artistic production worldwide?
2. In the 15th century, what dukes were major patron of the arts in Burgundy and
Flanders?
3.

What did they understand about what art could do for them?

SCULPTURE

- 15TH Century Flanders

CLAUS SLUTER
4.

(FIG. 15-2) Who designed this large sculptural fountain?

5.

What is the name of this sculpture?

6.

What features make these statues innovative?

7.

What became one of the chief characteristics of 15th century Flemish art?

FLEMISH PAINTING
MELCHIORE BROEDERLAM
8. In the late14th and 15th centuries, what was a major art form north of the
Alps? What did these art forms function as?
9.

What is a polyptych?

10. What opportunities did this multi-image format provide for artists?
11. (FIG.15-3) What is this piece known as and who is the artist?
12. What is the medium used to paint it and what kind of surface is it painted on?

13. These two panels include what two types of scenes?

14. Broederlam's panels contain two stylistic mixtures (a mixtures of two
styles of painting). What are these two stylistic mixtures?
15. Which of these two styles in his rendering still recalls medieval pictorial
convention?
16. This altarpiece by Melchiore Broederlam is was a precursor or early example
of what types of artistic developments to come?

MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES

Tempera and Oil Painting
17, During the 14th century, what was the material or painting medium of
choice for most painters in Italy and Northern Europe?
18. What is tempera?
19. Not until when did oil paints become widespread or extensively used?
20. Why are oil paints more flexible than tempera paints?
21. Through the early 16th century, what surface served as the foundation
for most paintings?
22. What painting surface became increasingly popular during the late16th
century?
23. Why did this painting surface material prove to be particularly useful in
Venice?

THE FIRST GENERATION OF FLEMISH PAINTERS AFTER BROEDERLAM

ROBERT CAMPIN
JAN VAN EYCK
ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN
24. What was characteristic of Northern European painting?
25. What painting medium facilitated or was best suited for this characteristic of
Northern European painting?
26. What could the versatile oil medium do that tempera could not?

ROBERT CHAMPIN (Master of Flmalle) - See pages 422 & 423

27. (FIG. 15-1) What is the name of this art piece? What was the name of the
artist? He was he also known as?
28. This art piece was a private commission for what purpose?
29. What is perhaps the most striking feature of these devotional images that
were commissioned for private use? An example would be what?
30. Separating the religious from the secular would become nearly
impossible in Flanders. Why?
31. Are the many objects represented in the Mrode Altarpiece merely
decorative?
32. What do they also function as?
33. Are the two people kneeling in the left panel biblical figures?
34. What are donor portraits?
JAN VAN EYCK
(FIG. 15-4) - View of altarpiece closed
(FIG. 15-5) - View of altarpiece open
35. (FIG. 15-4 & FIG. 15-5) What is the name of this artwork and who is the
artist?
36. Artists often included in their decoration of monumental altarpieces were
portraits of whom?
37. In (Fig. 15-4) What/who is depicted in two of the exterior panels when the
altarpiece is closed?
38. When the altarpiece is opened (Fig. 15-5), what is revealed?
39. What does this altarpiece celebrate?
40. What became the hallmark of Flemish panel painting (as evident in the
Ghent Altarpiece and as already evident in the Mrode Altarpiece)?
41. What did both the Ghent Altarpiece and the Mrode Altarpiece include in their
paintings?
42. As a result, these paintings marked a significant revival of what type of
painting genre that had languished since antiquity?

43. (FIG. 15-6) What is the name of this painting by Jan van Eyck?
44. Would this be considered a purely secular portrait? Does it have any religious
overtones?
45. If the answer is yes, to what degree and how did van Eyck show any religious
overtones?
46. How does van Eyck function as a witness in this painting and what does this
underscore about the artist?
47. (FIG. 15-7) What is the name of this painting and who is the artist?
48. What illusion did the artist create in this portrait?
49. What type of portrait do most scholars consider this to be?

ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN

50. (FIG. 15-8) What is the name of this altarpiece painting and who is the artist?
51. What is Rogier van der Weyen renowned for?
52. Few painters have equaled van der Weyden in the rendering of what?
53. His depiction of what emotional drama is considered among the most authentic
in religious art?

THE SECOND GENERATION OF FLEMISH PAINTERS- Latter Half of the15th

Century
PETRUS CHRISTUS
DIRK BOUTS
HUGO VAN DER GOES
HANS MEMLING
When reading pages 434- 445:
PETRUS CHRISTUS
54. (FIG. 15-10) What is the title of the painting?
55. Although the couple's presence suggests a marriage, who do scholars now
believe commissioned this painting?

56. The artist went to great lengths to produce what kind of image?
57. What do all the meticulously painted objects articulate or bring out in this
painting?
DIRK BOUTS
58. (FIG. 15-11) This painting by Dirk Bouts is one of the earliest Northern
European paintings that demonstrate the use of what?
HUGO VAN DER GOES
59. (FIG. 15-12) What is the name of this altarpiece painting? Who
commissioned this altarpiece? In other words, who is the patron?
60. Regarding a major art commission being awarded in Florence, what is rare
about whom the commission was awarded to?
61. What is significant about Hugo van der Goes's variation in scale of the figures in
this painting?
62. What created a considerable stir among Italian artists and made a deep
impression upon the Florentines about Hugo van der Goes's skill as a painter?
HANS MEMLING
63. (FIG. 15-13) What did Hans Memling specialize in?
64. What qualities and characteristics does this altarpiece painting exude?

FRANCE

- 15th Century

MANUSCRIPT PAINTNG
65. France during the 15th century is known for producing what in art?
66. What was among the significant developments in French manuscript painting
(illumination)?
67. (FIG. 15-15) & (FIG. 15-16) Who painted these images?
68. (Fig. 15-5) & (Fig. 15-6) What kind of painting are these images?

69. What was the Book of Hours (Les Trs Riches Heures)?

PANEL PAINTING
70. What type of images was popular in France, as in Flanders? What was also the
preferred medium?
JEAN FOUQUET
71. (FIG. 15-17) Jean Fouquet's meticulous representation of the pious donor
with a standing patron saint and the three-quarter stances and the sharp, clear
focus of the portraits recall what kind of art?

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

GERMANY - CORE OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE - 15th Century

PANEL PAINTING - Altarpieces painted on wood panel

As in Flanders, large-scale altarpieces featuring naturalistically painted
biblical themes were familiar sights in the Holy Roman Empire.
KONRAD WITZ
72. (FIG. 15-18) Why is this painting by Konrad Witz particularly significant?

SCULPTURE - Sculpted (carved) and painted Altarpieces

73. (FIG. 15-19) & (FIG. 15-20) What lingering style remained popular in 15th
century Germany for large, carved retables (altarpieces)?
74. What material was used to carve these retables (altarpieces)?
75. (FIG. 15-19) & (FIG. 15-20) Artists of the Late Gothic style used every
figural and ornamental design element from Gothic art to do what?

GRAPHIC ARTS
76. What sudden technological advance had widespread effects in 15th century
Germany?
77. What kind of new and challenging media did printing provide for artists?
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
Woodcuts, Engravings, and Etchings
78. During the 15th centuries, what two methods of printmaking were most
commonly used in Europe?

MARTIN SCHONGAUER
79. (FIG. 15-22) Who is the artist of this artwork?
80. If not a painting, conventional drawing or sculpture, or relief print, then what
art technique or method is this?
81. Who was the most skilled and subtle master of this technique?
82. What is intaglio?
83. What would be an advantage of the intaglio technique of printmaking over
the relief print such as a woodcut?