15th Century Flemish Style

Jan Van Eyck (1433 A.D.)
'Man in a Red Turban'
Oil on wood

  Van Eyck was court painter for Phillip the Good and one of the first Flemish painters to work primarily with oil paints or tempera. Eyck used them to create the soft feel and realistic visual texture which his pieces are known for. Using layers of translucent paint, Van Eyck and his contemporaries could blend colors and shade areas with an exactitude which fresco did not allow.
  This piece in particular is noted as one in which the subject of the picture looks directly back at the audience (instead of an implied focus off to one side). The directness and lack of decoration suggest to some that this may be a self-portrait of Jan Van Eyck; a claim supported by an inscribed frame which accompanies the piece. Others believe it may be a form of sample work meant to entice other nobles to commission Van Eyck's work outside of Flanders.

Commission of Holy Works

Claus Sluter (1395-1406 A.D.)
'Well of Moses' in the Chartreuse de Champmol

  This piece was commissioned by Philip the Bold as a central fountain-piece for his Carthusian monastery. Sluter paid special attention to detail and realism in his rendering of the life-like statues of prophets around the base.It originally supported a towering scene of the crucifixion; leading the monks of the monastery to dub it a "fons vitae" (living fountain) as the blood of Christ symbolically flowed from his body on the cross, down the bodies of the prophets (David, Daniel, Isaiah, Zachariah, and Jeramiah) which encircle its base, to the well below--which served as the main source of water for the monastery itself.

Roots of the Renaissance

Giotto di Bondone (1305-1306 A.D.)
'Arena Chapel' interior

  Bondone is considered the premier artist of the Italian Renaissance period. He took great care to depict realistic scenes based on human observation. The realism with which his art is associated is a key feature of the general artistic style of the Renaissance. Artists during this period sought to place the figures (mainly religious or political) of their paintings within recognizable settings while attempting to display human emotions within their works.

Influence of 13th Century Art

Nicola Pisano (1302-11 A.D.)
Marble; height: 461 cm
Cathedral, Pisa

  This marble pulpit carved by Nicola Pisano is a great example of the intricacy and detail which artists of the late 13th century attributed to their work. The pulpit is formed by individually carved slabs depicting religious scenes joined by solidly formed human or angelic figures alluding to the sturdy pillars which support the structure directly beneath this. The pillars themselves are elaborately decorated at the capital with solid bases, borrowing from both the Ionic and Corinthian style of Greco-Roman architecture.

 

  A single near-life-size figure beneath the center of the pulpit serves as a focal point and relieves some of the visual "top-heaviness" of the structure. Amidst the columns are additional carvings of figures in the forms of lions with special detail paid to their natural appearance to which Renaissance artists would note and emulate with their naturalist approach in the early 14th century.