Robert Campin

Master of Flemalle

Netherlandish, c. 1375 - 1444

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Dutch painter, first great master of Flemish and Early Netherlandish painting, 1375–1444

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Three women, two men, and an infant are gathered within a walled garden that extends off a building, its façade visible to the left, in this horizontal painting. The women have pale white skin and the men have olive-toned complexions. The men and women all wear voluminous, flowing robes and garments in lapis blue, ruby red, rose pink, olive or spring green. At the center a woman, Mary, supports a partially nude and squirming infant on her lap. Mary has wavy blond hair and wears a dark blue velvet robe that pools on the ground around her, with a lighter blue dress beneath. She sits on a chair with wooden spindle arms facing forward, toward us. She holds up the infant with interlaced fingers that wrap around his middle, and she inclines her head down and to our left, toward the infant. The child has blond hair, wide open blue eyes, and a chubby, pink-cheeked face. He is wrapped in a long, shimmery gold robe with brown cuffs and collar, which is open over his lower torso and legs. Facing our right, the child reaches with his left arm, palm outward. An array of shimmery, gold painted lines fan out around the heads of Mary and the infant. Just beyond the child’s reach, a woman in a red dress and shoulder-length, white head covering bends toward him and holds out a golden apple or other fruit. To our right, an elderly man has a full gray beard, and he gazes to our left. He leans, semi-stooping, on a walking stick that pins the hem of his garment. He wears a flowing cape in olive green with a black hood bunched across his shoulders, and a black skullcap. At his right foot, a small hog noses out from amid the draped garments. To the left of Mary stands a tall man in a spring-green cape with a gold lining, which hangs around his knees, exposing his lower legs and bare feet. He has bushy brown hair and a full beard. He cradles a small white lamb in his left arm while gesturing toward it with his right. His head is turned to our right, and he gazes off in that direction. Next to him, on the left side of the painting, a pale woman with flowing red hair in a pale pink cape sits on the ground directly in front of an arched doorway leading into the stone building. She sits facing our right, almost in profile. She bends her head toward a large, bound book resting on her lap that has lines of calligraphic writing in black and red. Propped beneath her right arm and projecting outward is a black metal sword that has a heart-shaped top. The sword’s tip touches a wooden wheel that lies on the grass, partially under the woman’s garments. The brick wall behind the group is covered across its width with a green and gold tapestry or cloth with a repeating floral motif. In the center, a vertical woven cloth of red and gold heraldic designs, with blue and green details, extends to the top of the painting, forming a backdrop behind Mary and the child. The ground is covered with green vegetation and a few small, pale yellow flowers blooming at the group’s feet. Over the wall, which is slightly higher than the standing man’s head, a sliver of blue sky and treetops is visible.
Anonymous Artist, Madonna and Child with Saints in the Enclosed Garden, c. 1440/1460, oil on panel, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1959.9.3

Madonna and Child with Saints in the Enclosed Garden

Anonymous Artist · c. 1440/1460 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1959.9.3

Bibliography

1898

  • Tschudi, Hugo von. "Der Meister von Flémalle." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen) 19 (1898): 8-34, 89-116.

1909

  • Hulin de Loo, Georges. "An Authentic Work by Jacques Daret, Painted in 1434." The Burlington Magazine 15 (1909): 202-208.

1939

  • Tolnay, Charles de. Le Maître de Flémalle et les frères Van Eyck. Brussels, 1939.

1974

  • Campbell, Lorne. "Robert Campin, the Master of Flémalle and the Master of Mérode." The Burlington Magazine 116 (1974): 634-646.

1980

  • Schabacker, Peter H. "Notes on the Biography of Robert Campin." Mededelingen van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschapen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België. Klasse der Schone Kunsten 41 (1980): 3-14.

1986

  • Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1986: 34.