Robert Campin now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle, was a master painter who, along with Jan van Eyck, initiated the development of early Netherlandish painting, a key development in the early Northern Renaissance.
Paintings by Robert Campin
Werl Triptych (1438)
The Werl Triptych (or Triptych of Heinrich von Werl) is a triptych altarpiece completed in Cologne in 1438, of which the centre panel has been lost. The two remaining wings are now in the Prado in Madrid. It was long attributed to the Master of Flémalle, now generally believed to have been Robert Campin, although this identity is not universally accepted. Some art historians believe it may have been painted as a pastiche by either the workshop or a follower of Campin or the Master of Flémalle.
The right-hand wing depicts a seated, pious Saint Barbara, who is shown engrossed in her reading of a bound and gilded holy book, seated in front of a warm, open fire which lights the room with a golden glow. The left wing has a donor portrait of Heinrich von Werl, who kneels in prayer in the company of John the Baptist facing the missing devotional centre-panel scene, which is lost and unrecorded. The two extant panels are in Madrid and renowned for their complex treatment of both light and form. The panels became influential on other artists from the mid-15th until the early 16th century, after when Early Netherlandish painting fell out of favour until it was rediscovered in the early 19th century.
Nativity (Campin) (1430)
Nativity is a panel painting of c. 1420 by the Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin, now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, France. As often, the moment shown is the Adoration of the Shepherds. Harshly realistic, the Child Jesus and his parents are shown in poverty, the figures crowded in a small structure, with broken-down walls, and a thatched roof with a hole, the single space shared with animals. In this Campin abandons the traditional narrative.
The Virgin is presented as in her teens, Joseph as a much older man. Four angels hover above them, holding gifts. Two of them hold a scroll with lettering addressed to one of the midwives in the lower portion of the panel. It reads "Tangue puerum et sanabaris" (touch the child and you shall be healed), depicting the pseudepigraphical story of Salome, the doubting midwife, whose scroll here reads "I will believe only what I have touched." According to the Protevangelium of James, Salome extended her hand to ascertain whether Mary was a virgin, and her hand withered. The angels tell her to hold the Christ child instead, and her hand is healed.
Seilern Triptych (1415)
The Seilern Triptych (also known as Entombment), variously dated c. 1410-15 or c. 1420–25, is a large oil and gold leaf on panel, fixed winged triptych altarpiece generally attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin. It is the earliest of two known triptychs attributed to him, although the outer wing panels paintings are lost. The work details the events of Christ's passion; with iconography associated with the liturgy of Holy Week. The panels, which should be read from left to right, detail three stations of the cycle of the Passion of Jesus; the crucifixion, the burial and the resurrection.
Campin was one of the very early founders of the Northern Renaissance, and famed and successful in his lifetime for his breakthrough use of oil paints, but was largely forgotten during the early and early-modern period. He was rediscovered during the late 19th century and has since been described as one of the most significant religious painters of the 15th century. Although Campin's life is relatively well documented for the time, there are no surviving records of this commission, and at 60 x 48.9 cm it is too small to have functioned as a church altarpiece - possibly it was intended for private devotion. The triptych represents one of the earliest extant Flemish paintings. Its iconography is related to the Depositio and Elevatio liturgical ceremonies.
Marriage of the Virgin (Campin) (1420)
The Marriage of the Virgin, also known as The Betrothal of the Virgin, is a c. 1420–1430 oil on oak painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin. The painting was intended to be a metaphor, primarily focused on the transition from the Old to the New Testament, which is expressed through iconography and disguised symbolism. It entered into the Spanish royal collection at El Escorial in 1584. It was later obtained by Prado Museum, where it continues to reside. This work by Robert Campin is one of his earliest and was previously attributed to Roger Van der Weyden.
The painting shows the betrothing of Mary and Joseph in front of an incomplete Gothic portal. In the left background, there is a Romanesque building that presents the Miracle of the Flowering Rod. This is the event in which Joseph was chosen to be wed to Mary. Presented at the top of the building are stained-glass windows which depict scenes from the Hebrew Bible thought to be Old Testament stories, such as Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Robert Campin's "Marriage of the Virgin" symbolically depicts the transition of Old Dispensation to the New Dispensation.
Portrait of a Fat Man (1425)
Portrait of a Fat Man (or Portrait of a Stout Man or Portrait of Robert de Masmines) are names given to two near-identical oil on panel paintings attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Robert Campin. Both versions are dated c. 1425, and are in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
The Madrid panel was in a Belgian private collection and not widely known about until 1957. The panels were first exhibited alongside each other at the National Gallery, London, in 1961. The panels are considered of equal quality and by the same hand, i.e. one is not a workshop copy of the other. However, the existence of two near identical paintings from such an early and renowned master has excited art historians as to their commission, dating, and providence.
The Bad Thief to the Left of Christ (1430)
altarpiece · Biblical portrayal · historical narration · the Passion · crucifixion · force · man · crucified man · Golgotha · group of people · triptych · fragment · punishment · torture · execution · soldier · Descent from the Cross · major work · retable · affirmational gesture · early Netherlandish painting · hell · consistency · deep spatiality · area · cloth of honour · torment · injury · pain · suffering · mistreatment · corpse · condemnation · innocent man · monumentality · fracture · weighting · nobleman · crucifixion of Christ · one or both of the malefactors on their crosses · nobility and patriciate; chivalry, knighthood · specific forms of the cross: Tau-cross · low hill country
Virgin in Glory surrounded by St. Peter and St. Augustine (1437)
La Vierge en gloire entre saint Pierre et saint Augustin vénérée par un donateur, par Robert Campin
The Annunciation (1420)
Annunciation
The Trinity (1429)
Flemalle Panels: Trinity of the Broken Body Robert Campin Oil on panel, 147.5 x 57.6 cm Frankfurt, Staedelsches Kunstinstitut
Mass of St. Gregory (1440)
Mass of Saint Gregory
John the Baptist (1415)
According to tradition, John the Baptist wears a hair shirt under a white cloth, associated with newly baptized Christians. The flag bearing a red cross symbolizes resurrection. In marked contrast, the background features a lavish gold-patterned silk. The display of such luxurious fabrics continues an ancient tradition of using the finest objects in the worship of God. This painting has been cut down along the lower edge and would have originally shown a full-length image of the saint. It was probably the right wing of a triptych, with John the Baptist gazing upon a central image of the Virgin and Child. Campin first settled in Tournai around 1405-6 as a free master of the guild of painters, and he bought citizenship there in 1410, which suggests he was born elsewhere. Although heavily indebted to contemporary masters of manuscript illumination, Campin displayed greater powers of realistic observation than any other painter before him. He was one of the first artists to experiment with the use of oil-based colors, in lieu of egg-based tempera, to achieve the brilliant color typical of this period.
Madonna and child (1429)
Flemalle Panels: Madonna and Child Oil on panel, 149.1 x 58.3 cm Frankfurt, Staedelsches Kunstinstitut