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164-566: When in 1450 the painting was brought to Cambrai , then part of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy and now in France, it was believed an original by Saint Luke , patron saint of artists, for which Mary herself had sat as model. Thus it was treated as a relic ; God bestowing miracles on those that travelled to view it. The work is significant beyond its aesthetic value: it serves as

328-529: A cedar panel, now backed by a modern board. It measures 35.5 x 26.5 cm, and is in generally good condition, with some local retouching. The initials "MR, DI, IHS, XRS" stand for the Latin Mater Dei, Jesu Christus , "Mother of God, Jesus Christ". It displays the gilded, decorated background typical of Byzantine devotional paintings, while Mary is dressed in a blue robe with gold lined edging. Christ, also typically of such Madonna and child works, possesses

492-558: A "revolution took place in painting"; a "new beauty" in art emerged, one that depicted the visible rather than the metaphysical world. In the 19th century, the Early Netherlandish artists were classified by nationality, with Jan van Eyck identified as German and van der Weyden (born Roger de la Pasture) as French. Scholars were at times preoccupied as to whether the school's genesis was in France or Germany. These arguments and distinctions dissipated after World War I, and following

656-485: A Northern European type, and their bodies fuller. In both adaptations, the Madonna's gaze has been significantly altered, she now looks directly at the child and not outwards at the viewer. The three Petrus Christi copies were commissioned by John, Count of Étampes , who was both Philip's first cousin through his father (and the bishop's nephew), and stepson, as his mother Bonne of Artois had married Philip after her husband

820-776: A bridge between the Byzantine icon tradition and the Italian Quattrocento , and inspired the work of 15th-century Netherlandish artists. After the Ottoman Turks had conquered Constantinople , copies of the painting were commissioned in the Low Countries in support of Philip the Good 's projected crusade, announced at the Feast of the Pheasant but never launched. The painting is in tempera on

984-669: A citadel built in its place. In 1595, the city was taken by the Spanish in the eighth and last French Wars of Religion . In December 1623, the community of nuns of the English Benedictine Congregation was founded at Cambrai. Expelled in 1793 as a result of the French Revolution, its successor community in 1838 was Stanbrook Abbey , near Malvern and later Wass in Yorkshire. In 1630, Richelieu , wishing to counter

1148-487: A crusade to retake the city. Byzantine Madonnas, and their Italian derivatives, were widely used as prototypes by Early Netherlandish artists from the 1420s with Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck . This was a period when commerce and a desire for piety and salvation, and sometimes politics, drove the commissioners of devotional art works. Painters who explicitly adapted the Cambrai Madonna include Petrus Christus who

1312-468: A distinctly rich and complex iconographical tradition. Marian devotion grew from the 13th century, mostly forming around the concepts of the Immaculate Conception and her Assumption into heaven . In a culture that venerated the possession of relics as a means to bring the earthly closer to the divine, Mary left no bodily relics, thus assuming a special position between heaven and humanity. By

1476-577: A domestic scene is no more complicated than a one showing religious iconography, but one the viewer would recognise and understand. Van der Weyden's symbolism was far more nuanced than Campin's but not as dense as van Eyck's. According to Harbison, van der Weyden incorporated his symbols so carefully, and in such an exquisite manner, that "Neither the mystical union that results in his work, nor his reality itself for that matter, seems capable of being rationally analyzed, explained or reconstructed." His treatment of architectural details, niches , colour and space

1640-424: A few thousand examples survive. Early northern art in general was not well regarded from the early 17th to the mid-19th century, and the painters and their works were not well documented until the mid-19th century. Art historians spent almost another century determining attributions, studying iconography, and establishing bare outlines of even the major artists' lives; attribution of some of the most significant works

1804-686: A form of indulgence . The single leaves had other uses rather than inserts; they could be attached to walls as aids to private meditation and prayer, as seen in Christus' 1450–60 panel Portrait of a Young Man , now in the National Gallery , which shows a small leaf with text to the Vera icon illustrated with the head of Christ. The French artists were overtaken in importance from the mid-15th century by masters in Ghent, Bruges and Utrecht . English production, once of

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1968-511: A greater complexity of emotions than had been previously seen. This first generation of Early Netherlandish artists were interested in the accurate reproduction of objects (according to Panofsky they painted "gold that looked like gold"), paying close attention to natural phenomena such as light, shadow and reflection . They moved beyond the flat perspective and outlined figuration of earlier painting in favour of three-dimensional pictorial spaces. The position of viewers and how they might relate to

2132-663: A heightened sense of contemporary beliefs and spiritual ideals. Morally the works express a fearful outlook, combined with a respect for restraint and stoicism. The paintings above all emphasise the spiritual over the earthly. Because the cult of Mary was at an apex at the time, iconographic elements related to the Life of Mary vastly predominate. Craig Harbison describes the blending of realism and symbolism as perhaps "the most important aspect of early Flemish art". The first generation of Netherlandish painters were preoccupied with making religious symbols more realistic. Van Eyck incorporated

2296-579: A higher form of art than panel painting, and their ornate and luxurious qualities better reflected the wealth, status and taste of their owners. Manuscripts were ideally suited as diplomatic gifts or offerings to commemorate dynastic marriages or other major courtly occasions. From the 12th century, specialist monastery-based workshops (in French libraires ) produced books of hours (collections of prayers to be said at canonical hours ), psalters , prayer books and histories, as well as romance and poetry books. At

2460-464: A kiss, while her arms warmly cradle him. He has one leg bent and another extended towards her, while his right arm is held upright and intimately holds her chin from below. This closeness and engagement of mother and child is a departure from Byzantine tradition, where they were often shown almost at arm's length, and was in tune with the ideals of the Italian Quattrocento. The Italian origin of

2624-443: A master's workshop was occupied with both the reproduction of copies of proven commercially successful works, and the design of new compositions arising from commissions. In this case, the master would usually produce the underdrawing or overall composition to be painted by assistants. As a result, many surviving works that evidence first-rank compositions but uninspired execution are attributed to workshop members or followers. By

2788-456: A means to guarantee salvation in the afterlife. Vast numbers of Virgin and Child paintings were produced, and original designs were widely copied and exported. Many of the paintings were based on Byzantine prototypes of the 12th and 13th centuries, of which the Cambrai Madonna is probably the best known. In this way the traditions of the earlier centuries were absorbed and re-developed as

2952-866: A means to showcase wealth and power, whereas portraits were less favoured. According to Maryan Ainsworth , those that were commissioned functioned to highlight lines of succession, such as van der Weyden's portrait of Charles the Bold; or for betrothals as in the case of van Eyck's lost Portrait of Isabella of Portugal . Religious paintings were commissioned for royal and ducal palaces, for churches, hospitals, and convents, and for wealthy clerics and private donors. The richer cities and towns commissioned works for their civic buildings. Artists often worked in more than one medium; van Eyck and Petrus Christus are both thought to have contributed to manuscripts. Van der Weyden designed tapestries, though few survive. The Netherlandish painters were responsible for many innovations, including

3116-466: A network of cellars, tunnels and quarries under the city. The poor quality of the Cambrai chalk was reserved for use in the manufacture of lime or filling, as well as common constructions. For prestigious buildings, stone from the nearby villages of Noyelles-sur-Escaut , Rumilly or Marcoing was used. The city is bordered in its western part, as well as to the north and the south, by the alluvial zones of

3280-442: A painter's reputation, as with Memling, whose St John Altarpiece for Bruges' Sint-Janshospitaal brought him additional civic commissions. Wealthy foreign patronage and the development of international trade afforded the established masters the chance to build up workshops with assistants. Although first-rank painters such as Petrus Christus and Hans Memling found patrons among the local nobility, they catered specifically to

3444-472: A peak in the region in the decades after 1400, mainly due to the patronage of Burgundian and House of Valois-Anjou dukes such as Philip the Bold , Louis I of Anjou and Jean, Duke of Berry . This patronage continued in the low countries with the Burgundian dukes, Philip the Good and his son Charles the Bold . The demand for illuminated manuscripts declined towards the end of the century, perhaps because of

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3608-479: A prefabricated pattern, to the inclusion of a donor portrait. The addition of coats-of-arms were often the only change – an addition seen in van der Weyden's Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin , which exists in several variations. Many of the Burgundian dukes could afford to be extravagant in their taste. Philip the Good followed the example set earlier in France by his great-uncles including Jean, Duke of Berry by becoming

3772-726: A result, Early Netherlandish painters are often categorised as belonging to both the Northern Renaissance and the Late or International Gothic . The major Netherlandish painters include Campin, van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden , Dieric Bouts , Petrus Christus , Hans Memling , Hugo van der Goes and Hieronymus Bosch . These artists made significant advances in natural representation and illusionism , and their work typically features complex iconography . Their subjects are usually religious scenes or small portraits, with narrative painting or mythological subjects being relatively rare. Landscape

3936-551: A set of tapestries, such as a chamber Philip the Bold named for a set of white tapestries with scenes from The Romance of the Rose . For about two centuries during the Burgundian period, master weavers produced "innumerable series of hangings heavy with gold and silver thread, the like of which the world had never seen". The practical use of textiles results from their portability; tapestries provided easily assembled interior decorations suited to religious or civic ceremonies. Their value

4100-485: A strong patron of the arts and commissioning a large number of artworks. The Burgundian court was seen as the arbiter of taste and their appreciation in turn drove demand for highly luxurious and expensive illuminated manuscripts, gold-edged tapestries and jewel-bordered cups. Their appetite for finery trickled down through their court and nobles to the people who for the most part commissioned local artists in Bruges and Ghent in

4264-450: A wide variety of iconographic elements, often conveying what he saw as a co-existence of the spiritual and material worlds. The iconography was embedded in the work unobtrusively; typically the references comprised small but key background details. The embedded symbols were meant to meld into the scenes and were "a deliberate strategy to create an experience of spiritual revelation". Van Eyck's religious paintings in particular "always present

4428-506: Is 1.5 to 2 °C colder over all combined seasons. On average, there are 71 days of fog per year (Paris-Montsouris has 13) 15 days of storm (Paris-Montsouris has 19) and 20 days with snow (Paris-Montsouris has 15). Early Netherlandish artist Early Netherlandish painting is the body of work by artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period, once known as

4592-590: Is 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level, Avesnes-sur-Helpe (Avesnois) is at 143 metres (469 ft) and Cambrai only 41 metres (135 ft). The Saint-Quentin canal , the Canal du Nord , the A1 , A2 and A26 autoroutes all borrow all this passage between the basin of the Seine and the plains of the Nord department. The chalky subsoil allowed, as in many medieval cities, the digging of

4756-564: Is 108 kilometres (67 mi) away, Paris is 160 kilometres (99 mi) and London is 279 kilometres (173 mi). The city was born and developed on the right bank of the Scheldt river, locally known as the Escaut. The river has its source in the department of Aisne , just a little over 20 kilometres (12 mi) away. Cambrai is located on chalk bedrock of the Cretaceous period , which forms

4920-423: Is a "promised passage from sin and death to salvation and rebirth". Other artists employed symbolism in a more prosaic manner, despite van Eyck's great influence on both his contemporaries and later artists. Campin showed a clear separation between spiritual and earthly realms; unlike van Eyck, he did not employ a programme of concealed symbolism. Campin's symbols do not alter the sense of the real; in his paintings

5084-530: Is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-prefecture of the department, Cambrai is a town which had 32,501 inhabitants in 2018. It is in the heart of the urban unit of Cambrai with 46,772 inhabitants. Its functional area , a more extensive range, included 94,576 inhabitants in 2018. With Lille and

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5248-404: Is especially tied to the tradition and conventions of illuminated manuscripts . Modern art historians see the era as beginning with 14th-century manuscript illuminators. They were followed by panel painters such as Melchior Broederlam and Robert Campin , the latter generally considered the first Early Netherlandish master, under whom van der Weyden served his apprenticeship. Illumination reached

5412-442: Is often richly described but relegated as a background detail before the early 16th century. The painted works are generally oil on panel, either as single works or more complex portable or fixed altarpieces in the form of diptychs , triptychs or polyptychs . The period is also noted for its sculpture, tapestries , illuminated manuscripts , stained glass and carved retables . The first generations of artists were active during

5576-478: Is presented in such an inexplicable manner that "the particular objects or people we see before us have suddenly, jarringly, become symbols with religious truth". Paintings and other precious objects served an important aid in the religious life of those who could afford them. Prayer and meditative contemplation were means to attain salvation, while the very wealthy could also build churches (or extend existing ones), or commission artworks or other devotional pieces as

5740-408: Is reflected in their positioning in contemporary inventories, in which they are typically found at the top of the record, then ranked in accordance with their material or colouring. White and gold were considered of the highest quality. Charles V of France had 57 tapestries, of which 16 were white. Jean de Berry owned 19, while Mary of Burgundy , Isabella of Valois , Isabeau of Bavaria and Philip

5904-552: Is still debated. Scholarship of Early Netherlandish painting was one of the main activities of 19th- and 20th-century art history, and a major focus of two of the most important art historians of the 20th century: Max J. Friedländer ( From Van Eyck to Breugel and Early Netherlandish Painting ) and Erwin Panofsky ( Early Netherlandish Painting only covering artists up to Hieronymus Bosch who died in 1516). The term "Early Netherlandish art" applies broadly to painters active during

6068-574: Is thought to have been either Jan van Eyck or his brother Hubert . According to Georges Hulin de Loo , Hand G's contributions to the Turin-Milan Hours "constitute the most marvelous group of paintings that have ever decorated any book, and, for their period, the most astounding work known to the history of art". Jan van Eyck's use of oil as a medium was a significant development, allowing artists far greater manipulation of paint. The 16th-century art historian Giorgio Vasari claimed van Eyck invented

6232-458: The 1973 oil crisis . Cambrai today is a lively city and, despite the past destruction, maintains a rich monumental heritage. Cambrai is affirmed as the urban centre of Cambrésis . Its economic life is strengthened by its position on the main local highway and river. Little is known with certainty of the beginnings of Cambrai. Camaracum or Camaraco , as it was known to the Romans, is mentioned for

6396-642: The Cambrésis . Mazarin tried unsuccessfully, in 1649, to seize the city, which was being besieged by Henri de Lorraine-Harcourt and the Vicomte de Turenne . A Spanish regiment, which came from Bouchain , succeeded in entering the city and the siege was lifted. In 1657, the Vicomte de Turenne captured Cambrai. Again 4,000 horsemen under the command of Condé , in the service of the Spain, manage to penetrate, and Turenne abandoned

6560-450: The Comité de salut public , arrived in Cambrai in 1794. He was to set up an era of "terror", sending many to the guillotine , until he was tried and executed in 1795. One of his most famous victims was François III Maximilien de la Woestyne, 3rd Marquess of Becelaere . Most of the religious buildings of the city were demolished in that period: in 1797, the old cathedral , which had been dubbed

6724-581: The Flemish Primitives . It flourished especially in the cities of Bruges , Ghent , Mechelen , Leuven , Tournai and Brussels , all in present-day Belgium . The period begins approximately with Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck in the 1420s and lasts at least until the death of Gerard David in 1523, although many scholars extend it to the start of the Dutch Revolt in 1566 or 1568– Max J. Friedländer 's acclaimed surveys run through Pieter Bruegel

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6888-657: The Habsburg Empire and France made it the venue of several international negotiations, including the League of Cambrai , an alliance engineered in 1508 by Pope Julius II against the Republic of Venice , concluding in the Treaty of Cambrai  [ fr ] . The alliance collapsed in 1510 when the Pope allied with Venice against his former ally France . The conflict is also referred to as

7052-517: The Loi Godefroid promulgated by the bishop, in fact or in law, left the people a number of freedoms won in the management of communal affairs. Cambrai is also known for its Irish homily . In the Middle Ages , the city grew richer and larger thanks to its weaving industry which produced woollen cloth, linen and cambric . Cambrai, and in particular the drapery, experienced an economic decline from

7216-555: The Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy explored the same mix of illusionism and realism. The Limbourgs' career ended just as van Eyck's began – by 1416 all the brothers (none of whom had reached 30) and their patron Jean, Duke of Berry were dead, most likely from plague . Van Eyck is thought to have contributed several of the more acclaimed miniatures of the Turin-Milan Hours as the anonymous artist known as Hand G. A number of illustrations from

7380-596: The Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent , shows an interpretation of the model into a later style. Other copies of various periods, some of which have been advanced as members of the commissioned sets mentioned above, follow the original much more exactly. Such parallel use of styles is characteristic of the period; there was a considerable industry importing cheaper icons by the Cretan School to Europe, which could be ordered in bulk specifying either Greek or Latin styles. On 14 May 1894,

7544-589: The Old Cambrai Cathedral , where it was installed with great ceremony in its Chapel of the Holy Trinity the following year on August 13, the eve of the Feast of the Assumption . Almost immediately it became the object of fervent pilgrimage, reflecting a contemporary appetite for new types of devotional imagery. A confraternity was established in 1453 for the "care and veneration" of the relic, which from 1455

7708-616: The Salian Franks under the command of Clodio the Long-Haired took the town. In 509, Clovis undertook to unify the Frankish kingdoms by getting rid of his relatives. Cambrai began to grow from a rural market into a real city during the Merovingian times, a long period of peace when the bishoprics of Arras and Cambrai were first unified (probably owing to the small number of clerics left at

7872-473: The Scheldt and the centre of a small ecclesiastical principality , roughly coinciding with the shire of Brabant , including the central part of the Low Countries . The bishopric had some limited secular power and depended on the Holy Roman Empire until annexation to France in 1678. Fénelon , nicknamed the "Swan of Cambrai", was the most renowned of the archbishops. The fertile lands which surround it and

8036-543: The War of the League of Cambrai and lasted from 1508 to 1516. Cambrai was also the site of negotiations in 1529, concluding in the Paix des Dames , which led to France's withdrawal from the War of the League of Cognac . In 1543, Cambrai was conquered by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , and annexed to his already vast possessions. He had the medieval monastery of Saint-Sépulchre demolished and

8200-666: The "miracle-working" Byzantine icons then popular in Italy. The format became extremely popular across the north, and his innovations are an important contributing factor to the emergence of the Marian diptych. Although the Netherlandish artists are primarily known for their panel paintings, their output includes a variety of formats, including illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, tapestries, carved retables , stained glass , brass objects and carved tombs . According to art historian Susie Nash , by

8364-573: The "wonder of the low countries", was sold to a merchant on 6 June 1796 who left only the tower, after exploiting the cathedral as a stone quarry. The main tower was left standing until 1809, when it collapsed in a storm. However the cathedral's archives have been preserved (they are now at the Archives Départementales du Nord in Lille ) and a new cathedral was later provided. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 widely spared Cambrai. It also showed

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8528-414: The 12th century that had already produced significant numbers of liturgical texts . There was a strong political aspect; the form had many influential patrons such as Jean, Duke of Berry and Philip the Good, the latter of whom collected more than a thousand illuminated books before his death. According to Thomas Kren, Philip's "library was an expression of the man as a Christian prince, and an embodiment of

8692-543: The 1440s and 1450s. While Netherlandish panel paintings did not have intrinsic value as did for example objects in precious metals, they were perceived as precious objects and in the first rank of European art. A 1425 document written by Philip the Good explains that he hired a painter for the "excellent work that he does in his craft". Jan van Eyck painted the Annunciation while in Philip's employ, and Rogier van der Weyden became

8856-462: The 14th century the county was surrounded on all parts by Burgundy 's possessions and John of Burgundy , an illegitimate son of John the Fearless , was made bishop. However, what looked like an impending annexation of Cambrésis to the states of Burgundy was made impossible by the sudden death of Charles the Bold in 1477. Louis XI immediately seized the opportunity to take control of Cambrai, but left

9020-591: The 15th and 16th centuries in the northern European areas controlled by the Dukes of Burgundy and later the Habsburg dynasty . These artists became an early driving force behind the Northern Renaissance and the move away from the Gothic style. In this political and art-historical context, the north follows the Burgundian lands which straddled areas that encompass parts of modern France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and

9184-534: The 15th century the reach and influence of the Burgundian princes meant that the Low Countries' merchant and banker classes were in the ascendancy. The early to mid-century saw great rises in international trade and domestic wealth, leading to an enormous increase in the demand for art. Artists from the area attracted patronage from the Baltic coast, the north German and Polish regions, the Iberian Peninsula , Italy and

9348-509: The 15th century, studied at the cathedral from 1409 to 1412 under Nicolas Malin and Richard Loqueville , and returned in 1439 after spending many years in Italy. Cambrai cathedral had other famous composers in the later 15th century: Johannes Tinctoris and Ockeghem went to Cambrai to study with Dufay. Other composers included Nicolas Grenon , Alexander Agricola , and Jacob Obrecht . In the 16th century, Philippe de Monte , Johannes Lupi , and Jacobus de Kerle all worked there. Even though

9512-455: The 15th century. Cambrai then belonged to a commercial hansa of seventeen low country cities whose aim was to develop trade with the fairs in Champagne and Paris . By the 11th century the city walls had reached the circumference they would keep until the 19th century. Cambrai has a distinguished musical history, particularly in the 15th century. The cathedral there, a musical center until

9676-487: The 17th century, had one of the most active musical establishments in the Low Countries; many composers of the Burgundian School either grew up and learned their craft there, or returned to teach. In 1428 Philippe de Luxembourg claimed that the cathedral was the finest in all of Christianity, for the fineness of its singing, its light, and the sweetness of its bells. Guillaume Dufay , the most famous European musician of

9840-531: The 3,500 which consisted of Cambrai. The centre was to be rebuilt, a task which was entrusted to the architect Pierre Leprince-Ringuet  [ fr ] . World War II also struck Cambrai. The city was bombed by the Luftwaffe on 17 May 1940, during the Battle of France , before falling the next day at the same time as Saint-Quentin . The remains of the 9th French Army and General Giraud were taken prisoner by

10004-413: The Burgundian court, with van Eyck in particular assuming roles for which an ability to read Latin was necessary; inscriptions found on his panels indicate that he had a good knowledge of both Latin and Greek. A number of artists were financially successful and much sought-after in the Low Countries and by patrons across Europe. Many artists, including David and Bouts, could afford to donate large works to

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10168-504: The Cross , in which Christ's body is given the t-shape of a crossbow to reflect its commission for a chapel for the Leuven guild of archers. Workshops typically consisted of a family home for the master and lodging for apprentices. The masters usually built up inventories of pre-painted panels as well as patterns or outline designs for ready sale. With the former, the master was responsible for

10332-605: The Early Netherlandish school lie in the miniature paintings of the late Gothic period. This was first seen in manuscript illumination, which after 1380 conveyed new levels of realism, perspective and skill in rendering colour, peaking with the Limbourg brothers and the Netherlandish artist known as Hand G, to whom the most significant leaves of the Turin-Milan Hours are usually attributed. Although his identity has not been definitively established, Hand G, who contributed c. 1420,

10496-613: The Elder . Early Netherlandish painting coincides with the Early and High Italian Renaissance , but the early period (until about 1500) is seen as an independent artistic evolution, separate from the Renaissance humanism that characterised developments in Italy. Beginning in the 1490s, as increasing numbers of Netherlandish and other Northern painters traveled to Italy, Renaissance ideals and painting styles were incorporated into northern painting. As

10660-399: The Estonian Michael Sittow both worked in the Netherlands in a fully Netherlandish style. Simon Marmion is often regarded as an Early Netherlandish painter because he came from Amiens , an area intermittently ruled by the Burgundian court between 1435 and 1471. The Burgundian duchy was at its peak influence, and the innovations made by the Netherlandish painters were soon recognised across

10824-400: The French primitifs flamands that became popular after the famous exhibition in Bruges in 1902 and remains in use today, especially in Dutch and German. In this context, "primitive" does not refer to a perceived lack of sophistication, but rather identifies the artists as originators of a new tradition in painting. Erwin Panofsky preferred the term ars nova ("new art"), which linked

10988-442: The Germans. From 27 April until 18 August 1944, 18 Allied air raids were directed against the railway tracks, killing 250 people and destroying 1,700 buildings, or more than 50% of the city. The first American tanks entered the city on 2 September. After the war, the priority again was reconstruction. A municipality of the "union of the left" was elected in 1945, led by Raymond Gernez  [ fr ] who would remain at

11152-405: The Good all held substantial collections. Tapestry production began with design. The designs, or cartoons were typically executed on paper or parchment, put together by qualified painters, then sent to weavers, often across a great distance. Because cartoons could be re-used, craftsmen often worked on source material that was decades old. As both paper and parchment are highly perishable, few of

11316-489: The Marquis de Cesen as governor, and appointed 14 new aldermen while keeping the same provost . By the Treaty of Nijmegen of 1678, Spain had relinquished Cambrai, which has remained as a part of France, to this day. French influence would transform the architecture and urbanism of the city. The gables of the houses on the street were blocked and the city was embellished with mansions. The fortifications were reinforced with advanced works. The first archbishop appointed by

11480-436: The Netherlands, which was reached on 20 March. On 22 March, Louis XIV was in the city in person. On 2 April, the French invested in a part of the place. By 5 April, the city surrendered, given the same benefits as Lille in 1667, but the Spanish garrison took refuge in the citadel and the siege continued until 17 April. After 29 days of siege the king made his entry into the city, on 19 April, Easter Monday. Louis XIV named

11644-401: The Netherlands. The Netherlandish artists have been known by a variety of terms. "Late Gothic" is an early designation which emphasises continuity with the art of the Middle Ages . In the early 20th century, the artists were variously referred to in English as the " Ghent-Bruges school " or the "Old Netherlandish school". "Flemish Primitives" is a traditional art-historical term borrowed from

11808-524: The Protestant Republic of the Netherlands and continued in the following years. In 1676, Louis XIV , in an effort to "safeguard the tranquility of his borders for ever" (" assurer à jamais le repos de ses frontières "), focused most of his efforts against Spain and occupied Condé and Bouchain . On 17 March 1677, the French troops stormed Valenciennes and moved toward Cambrai, the strongest place of

11972-460: The Scheldt Valley. Cambrai is built on the right bank of the Scheldt . The river, still of a very modest flow in Cambrai, played a crucial role in the history of the city by providing multiple functions, including allowing the transportation of men and goods since antiquity. However, it was undeveloped and was crossed by numerous marshes. It was with the discovery of coal at Anzin in 1734 that

12136-514: The Scheldt was expanded and declared navigable in 1780, from Cambrai to the North Sea . The Scheldt is today the Canal de l'Escaut downstream of Cambrai. In addition, the river initially served as the boundary between the bishoprics of Tournai on its left bank and Cambrai on its right bank, from the 6th century. When the division of Charlemagne 's Empire in 843, this border was retained to delimit

12300-404: The advancement of the diptych format, the conventions of donor portraits , new conventions for Marian portraits, and, through works such as van Eyck's Madonna of Chancellor Rolin and van der Weyden's Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin in the 1430s, laying the foundation for the development of landscape painting as a separate genre. Before the mid-15th century, illuminated books were considered

12464-416: The area which are separated by a few tens of kilometres: Douai is only 24 kilometres (15 mi) away, Valenciennes is 29 kilometres (18 mi), Arras is 35 kilometres (22 mi) and Saint-Quentin 37 kilometres (23 mi), all measured as the crow flies . The regional capital, Lille , is 52 kilometres (32 mi) from Cambrai. Cambrai is not very far from several European capitals: Brussels

12628-507: The bishop tried to preserve the independence of his small state of Cambrésis, the task was not easy, wedged as the county was between its more powerful neighbours the counts of Flanders , of Hainaut and the kings of France , especially during the Hundred Years' War . In 1339, in the early stages of the war, the English king Edward III laid siege to the city but eventually had to withdraw. By

12792-505: The bishop was exercised over a vast diocese, which stretched on the right bank of the Scheldt to Mons , Brussels and Antwerp. In 954, the Magyars under Bulcsú besieged Cambrai, which resisted all their attacks. In 958 one of the first communal uprisings in Europe occurred in Cambrai. The inhabitants rebelled against Bishop Bérenger's power and abuses. The rebellion was severely repressed, but

12956-476: The bishop, ceased when in 948 Otto I granted the bishop with temporal powers over the city. In 1007, Emperor Henry II extended the bishop's temporal power to the territory surrounding Cambrai. The bishops then had both spiritual and temporal powers. This made Cambrai and Cambrésis a church principality, much like Liège , an independent state which was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The spiritual power of

13120-400: The body of an adult male rather that of an infant. He is burly, and far too large for a newborn child. Mary is described by scholars as an Eleusa icon because of the tender manner in which the child is nestled against her cheek, setting the image as an intimate portrayal of the bond between mother and child. Her head is tilted towards her son and embraces his forehead and cheek almost as if in

13284-458: The border decorations, these last often done by women. The masters rarely signed their work, making attribution difficult; the identities of some of the more significant illuminators are lost. Netherlandish artists found increasingly inventive ways to highlight and differentiate their work from manuscripts from surrounding countries; such techniques included designing elaborate page borders and devising ways to relate scale and space. They explored

13448-452: The churches, monasteries and convents of their choosing. Van Eyck was a valet de chambre at the Burgundian court and had easy access to Philip the Good. Van der Weyden was a prudent investor in stocks and property; Bouts was commercially minded and married the heiress Catherine "Mettengelde" ("with the money"). Vrancke van der Stockt invested in land. The Early Netherlandish masters' influence reached artists such as Stefan Lochner and

13612-452: The cities of Arras , Bruges and Tournai . The perceived technical ability of these artisans was such that, in 1517, Pope Leo X sent Raphael 's cartoons to Brussels to be woven into hangings. Such woven wall hangings played a central political role as diplomatic gifts, especially in their larger format; Philip the Good gifted several to participants at the Congress of Arras in 1435, where

13776-405: The city a year later. Martin and Martine are two legendary characters who have come to represent the city which they are said to have saved. There are different versions of the story. The most commonly accepted version runs as follows: around the year 1370, at the time of Bishop Robert, Count of Geneva, Martin, a blacksmith of Moorish descent established in Cambrai, was among the burghers who left

13940-458: The city is about 110 kilometres (68 mi) from the nearest coast. Precipitation is distributed year-round, with highs in the spring and autumn, with February being the driest month. Contrasting with the rainy image of the region, the total annual precipitation is relatively small with 642 millimetres (25.3 in) at Cambrai-Épinoy; identical to the Montsouris Paris station, which is at

14104-516: The city or by purchase. Apprenticeship lasted four to five years, ending with the production of a " masterpiece " that proved his ability as a craftsman, and the payment of a substantial entrance fee. The system was protectionist at a local level through the nuances of the fee system. Although it sought to ensure a high quality of membership, it was a self-governing body that tended to favour wealthy applicants. Guild connections sometimes appear in paintings, most famously in van der Weyden's Descent from

14268-464: The city progressed, while the arrondissement tended to be depopulated. At the same time, the city lost industrial jobs and moved towards the tertiary sector, but it was public administrations which provided the bulk of jobs. The town of Cambrai is situated in the southern part of the Nord Department, of which it is chef-lieu of the arrondissement . It belongs to the dense network of the cities of

14432-419: The city to fight the lord of Thun-Lévêque , who was then reputed to ransom the population around the city and generally to afflict the region. Martin, armed only with his heavy iron hammer, soon came face to face with the enemy. He dealt such a heavy blow on his opponent's head that, although the helmet of the lord did not break, because it was made of good steel, it was driven down to his eyes. Dazed and blinded,

14596-470: The city. In 1666, in the greatest secrecy, Louis XIV prepared new conquests by making plans of the Spanish fortifications, and then began the War of Devolution . The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle from 1668 allowed the Kingdom of France to obtain a large number of strongholds, but Cambrai was not a part of them, nor were Bouchain , Valenciennes or Condé-sur-l'Escaut . In 1672, hostilities resumed against

14760-703: The continent. By the time of van Eyck's death, his paintings were sought by wealthy patrons across Europe. Copies of his works were widely circulated, a fact that greatly contributed to the spread of the Netherlandish style to central and southern Europe. Central European art was then under the dual influence of innovations from Italy and from the north. Often the exchange of ideas between the Low Countries and Italy led to patronage from nobility such as Matthias Corvinus , King of Hungary , who commissioned manuscripts from both traditions. The first generation were literate, well educated and mostly from middle-class backgrounds. Van Eyck and van der Weyden were both highly placed in

14924-609: The contours of shadows with their fingers, at times to blot or reduce the glaze . The most usual way in the 15th century for a patron to commission a piece was to visit a master's workshop. Only a certain number of masters could operate within any city's bounds; they were regulated by artisan guilds to whom they had to be affiliated to be allowed to operate and receive commissions. Guilds protected and regulated painting, overseeing production, export trade and raw material supply; and they maintained discrete sets of rules for panel painters, cloth painters and book illuminators. For example,

15088-714: The costly production process in comparison to panel painting. Yet illumination remained popular at the luxury end of the market, and prints , both engravings and woodcuts , found a new mass market, especially those by artists such as Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer . Following van Eyck's innovations, the first generation of Netherlandish painters emphasised light and shadow, elements usually absent from 14th-century illuminated manuscripts. Biblical scenes were depicted with more naturalism, which made their content more accessible to viewers, while individual portraits became more evocative and alive. Johan Huizinga said that art of

15252-625: The death of Lothair II , who had no heir, king Charles the Bald tried to gain control of his kingdom by having himself consecrated at Metz . Cambrai thus reverted, but only briefly, to the Western Frankish Realm . In 870 the town was destroyed by the Normans. In the Middle Ages the region around Cambrai, called Cambrésis, was a county. Rivalries between the count, who ruled the city and county, and

15416-436: The defence of the city by the establishment of flood defensive areas. Despite its important role in the history of the city, the Scheldt is little integrated into the present urban landscape. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb " (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate ). However,

15580-446: The delicateness of the linen cloth and the solubility of the hide glue from which the binder was derived. Well known and relatively well preserved – though substantially damaged – examples include Matsys' Virgin and Child with Saints Barbara and Catherine (c. 1415–25) and Bouts' Entombment (c. 1440–55). The paint was generally applied with brushes or sometimes with thin sticks or brush handles. The artists often softened

15744-399: The destruction of many manuscripts. Originals were highly sought after, a revival that helped the rediscovery of Netherlandish art in the later part of the century. During the mid-15th century, tapestry was one of the most expensive and prized artistic products in Europe. Commercial production proliferated across the Netherlands and northern France from the early 15th century, especially in

15908-399: The discontent flared up again in the 10th and 11th centuries. Between 1077 and 1215, the burghers had a charter franchise on at least four occasions. Each time, these were eventually withdrawn by the combined efforts of the bishops and emperors. In 1227, following another period of unrest, the burghers of Cambrai finally had to give up their charters and accept the bishop's authority. However,

16072-514: The duke's portrait painter in the 1440s. Burgundian rule created a large class of courtiers and functionaries. Some gained enormous power and commissioned paintings to display their wealth and influence. Civic leaders also commissioned works from major artists, such as Bouts' Justice for Emperor Otto III , van der Weyden's The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald and David's Justice of Cambyses . Civic commissions were less common and were not as lucrative, but they brought notice to and increased

16236-497: The early 15th century, Mary had grown in importance within the Christian doctrine to the extent that she was commonly seen as the most accessible intercessor with God. It was thought that the length each person would need to suffer in limbo was proportional to their display of devotion while on earth. The veneration of Mary reached a peak in the early 15th century, an era that saw an unending demand for works depicting her likeness. From

16400-413: The early 16th century can be seen as leading directly from the artistic innovations and iconography of the previous century, with some painters, following the traditional and established formats and symbolism of the previous century, continuing to produce copies of previously painted works. Others came under the influence of Renaissance humanism , turning towards secular narrative cycles, as biblical imagery

16564-498: The early 16th century, the region led the field in almost every aspect of portable visual culture, "with specialist expertise and techniques of production at such a high level that no one else could compete with them". The Burgundian court favoured tapestry and metalwork , which are well recorded in surviving documentation, while demand for panel paintings is less evident – they may have been less suited to itinerant courts. Wall hangings and books functioned as political propaganda and as

16728-440: The era was meant to be fully integrated with daily routine, to "fill with beauty" the devotional life in a world closely tied to the liturgy and sacraments. After about 1500 a number of factors turned against the pervasive Northern style, not least the rise of Italian art, whose commercial appeal began to rival Netherlandish art by 1510, and overtook it some ten years later. Two events symbolically and historically reflect this shift:

16892-563: The era. Egg tempera was the dominant medium until the 1430s, and while it produces both bright and light colours, it dries quickly and is a difficult medium in which to achieve naturalistic textures or deep shadows. Oil allows smooth, translucent surfaces and can be applied in a range of thicknesses, from fine lines to thick broad strokes. It dries slowly and is easily manipulated while still wet. These characteristics allowed more time to add subtle detail and enable wet-on-wet techniques. Smooth transitions of colour are possible because portions of

17056-489: The first rank and most influential of the early generation of Early Netherlandish painters. Their influence was felt across northern Europe, from Bohemia and Poland in the east to Austria and Swabia in the south. A number of artists traditionally associated with the movement had origins that were neither Dutch nor Flemish in the modern sense. Van der Weyden was born Roger de la Pasture in Tournai . The German Hans Memling and

17220-657: The first time on the Peutinger table in the middle of the 4th century. It became the main town of the Roman province of the Nervii , whose first Roman capital had been at Bagacum , present-day Bavay . In the middle of the 4th-century, Frankish raids from the north threatened Bavay and led the Romans to build forts along the Cologne to Bavay to Cambrai road, and thence to Boulogne. Cambrai thus occupied an important strategic position. In 430,

17384-437: The fore in paintings that were provisionally religious or mythological, and his genre scenes were complex, with overtones of religious skepticism and even hints of nationalism. Campin, van Eyck and van der Weyden established naturalism as the dominant style in 15th-century northern European painting. These artists sought to show the world as it actually was, and to depict people in a way that made them look more human, with

17548-401: The formats and images that would be most sought after and their designs were then developed by workshop members. Ready made paintings were sold at regularly held fairs, or the buyers could visit workshops, which tended to be clustered in certain areas of the major cities. The masters were allowed to display in their front windows. This was the typical mode for the thousands of panels produced for

17712-478: The futility of the fortifications, which the city obtained permission to demolish, at its expense, in 1892. The outer boulevards were constructed and off to the location of the walls, between 1894 and the beginning of the 20th century. The appearance of the city was radically transformed, and the works stimulated the city's economy. In 1914, the German army occupied the city. This occupation, which lasted for four years,

17876-523: The halls were draped from top to bottom and all around ( tout autour ) with tapestries showing scenes of the "Battle and Overthrow of People of Liege". At Charles the Bold and Margaret of York's wedding the room "was hung above with draperies of wool, blue and white, and on the sides was tapestried with a rich tapestry woven with the history of Jason and the Golden Fleece". Rooms typically were hung from ceiling to floor with tapestries and some rooms named for

18040-466: The head of the city until 1981, promoting moderate socialism. As early as 1947, the city submitted to a development project of the Ministry of Reconstruction. The municipality gave priority to the construction of houses: The Maison du Cambrésis [House of le Cambrésis], later Maison Familiale group, an HLM cooperative society, contributed substantially to the reconstruction of the city. The population of

18204-432: The height of Burgundian influence in Europe, when the Low Countries became the political and economic centre of Northern Europe, noted for its crafts and luxury goods. Assisted by the workshop system, panels and a variety of crafts were sold to foreign princes or merchants through private engagement or market stalls. A majority of the works were destroyed during waves of iconoclasm in the 16th and 17th centuries; today only

18368-469: The highest quality, had greatly declined and relatively few Italian manuscripts went north of the Alps. The French masters did not give up their position easily however, and even in 1463 were urging their guilds to impose sanctions on the Netherlandish artists. The Limbourg brothers ' ornate Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry perhaps marks both the beginning and a highpoint of Netherlandish illumination. Later

18532-537: The icon of the Cambrai Madonna was crowned by Pope Leo XIII. 50°10′20″N 3°14′00″E  /  50.1722°N 3.2333°E  / 50.1722; 3.2333 Cambrai Cambrai ( US : / k æ m ˈ b r eɪ , k ɒ̃ ˈ -/ , French: [kɑ̃bʁɛ] ; Picard : Kimbré ; Dutch : Kamerijk ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke ,

18696-399: The iconographic innovations and painterly techniques developed by van Eyck had become standard throughout northern Europe. Albrecht Dürer emulated van Eyck's precision. Painters enjoyed a new level of respect and status; patrons no longer simply commissioned works but courted the artists, sponsoring their travel and exposing them to new and wide-ranging influences. Hieronymus Bosch , active in

18860-566: The intermediary layers of paint can be wiped or removed as the paint dries. Oil enables differentiation among degrees of reflective light, from shadow to bright beams, and minute depictions of light effects through the use of transparent glazes. This new freedom in controlling light effects gave rise to more precise and realistic depictions of surface textures; van Eyck and van der Weyden typically show light falling on surfaces such as jewellery, wooden floors, textiles and household objects. The paintings were most often made on wood, but sometimes on

19024-524: The interplay between the three essential components of a manuscript: border, miniature and text. An example is the Nassau book of hours (c. 1467–80) by the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy , in which the borders are decorated with large illusionistic flowers and insects. These elements achieved their effect by being broadly painted, as if scattered across the gilded surface of the miniatures. This technique

19188-434: The joins". Many paintings' frames were altered, repainted or gilded in the 18th and early 19th centuries when it was common practice to break apart hinged Netherlandish pieces so they could be sold as genre pieces. Many surviving panels are painted on both sides or with the reverse bearing family emblems, crests or ancillary outline sketches. In the case of single panels, the markings on the reverse are often wholly unrelated to

19352-528: The king of France was François Fénelon . He came to be known as the "Swan of Cambrai" (" le cygne de Cambrai "), in opposition to his friend and rival Bossuet , the "eagle of Meaux" (" l'aigle de Meaux "), and he wrote his Maxims of the Saints while residing in the city. He had a relentless zeal to enlighten the faithful and to convert the unfaithful. The city suffered from the Revolution : Joseph Le Bon , sent by

19516-424: The kingdoms of Lothair I and Charles the Bald , making Cambrai a city of the Holy Roman Empire until 1677. The Scheldt was also indispensable to many economic activities, such as the tanning, milling, the manufacture of salt and soap, as well as for retting of linen , the weaving of which was one of the main activities of the city. Finally, the river was used in the Middle Ages and then by Vauban , for

19680-530: The large foreign population in Bruges. Painters not only exported goods but also themselves; foreign princes and nobility, striving to emulate the opulence of the Burgundian court, hired painters away from Bruges. The paintings of the first generation of Netherlandish artists are often characterised by the use of symbolism and biblical references. Van Eyck pioneered, and his innovations were taken up and developed by van der Weyden, Memling and Christus. Each employed rich and complex iconographical elements to create

19844-426: The late 15th and early 16th centuries, remains one of the most important and popular of the Netherlandish painters. He was anomalous in that he largely forwent realistic depictions of nature, human existence and perspective, while his work is almost entirely free of Italian influences. His better-known works are instead characterised by fantastical elements that tend towards the hallucinatory, drawing to some extent from

20008-528: The leads of Friedländer , Panofsky, and Pächt, English-language scholars now almost universally describe the period as "Early Netherlandish painting", although many art historians view the Flemish term as more correct. In the 14th century, as Gothic art gave way to the International Gothic era, a number of schools developed in northern Europe. Early Netherlandish art originated in French courtly art, and

20172-597: The less expensive canvas. The wood was usually oak, often imported from the Baltic region, with the preference for radially cut boards which are less likely to warp. Typically the sap was removed and the board well-seasoned before use. Wood supports allow for dendrochronological dating, and the particular use of Baltic oak gives clues as to the artist's location. The panels generally show very high degrees of craftsmanship. Lorne Campbell notes that most are "beautifully made and finished objects. It can be extremely difficult to find

20336-439: The location is a fusion of the earthly and celestial. Van Eyck's iconography is often so densely and intricately layered that a work has to be viewed multiple times before even the most obvious meaning of an element is apparent. The symbols were often subtly woven into the paintings so that they only became apparent after close and repeated viewing, while much of the iconography reflects the idea that, according to John Ward, there

20500-402: The lord of Thun quickly surrendered. Today the automatons of Martin and Martine, standing at the top of the town hall, strike the hours with a hammer as a reminder of that mighty blow. As the economic centre of northern Europe moved away from Bruges , the area became poorer, with an associated period of cultural decline. However, the city's neutrality and its position between the possessions of

20664-447: The mid-15th century, Netherlandish portrayals of the life of Christ tended to be centred on the iconography of the Man of Sorrows . Those who could afford to commissioned donor portraits . Such a commission was usually executed as part of a triptych, or later as a more affordable diptych. Van der Weyden popularised the existing northern tradition of half-length Marian portraits . These echoed

20828-438: The middle class – city officials, clergy, guild members, doctors and merchants. Less expensive cloth paintings ( tüchlein ) were more common in middle-class households, and records show a strong interest in domestically owned religious panel paintings. Members of the merchant class typically commissioned smaller devotional panels, containing specified subject matter. Alterations varied from having individualised panels added to

20992-415: The movement with innovative composers of music such as Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois , who were favoured by the Burgundian court over artists attached to the lavish French court. When the Burgundian dukes established centres of power in the Netherlands, they brought with them a more cosmopolitan outlook. According to Otto Pächt a simultaneous shift in art began sometime between 1406 and 1420 when

21156-431: The narrowest sense with the death of Gerard David in 1523. A number of mid- and late-16th-century artists maintained many of the conventions, and they are frequently but not always associated with the school. The style of these painters is often dramatically at odds with that of the first generation of artists. In the early 16th century, artists began to explore illusionistic depictions of three dimensions. The painting of

21320-509: The northern boundary of the Paris Basin , between, to the east, the hills for Thiérache and Avesnois , the foothills of the Ardennes  [ fr ] , and northwest, the hills of Artois . It is at a point which is relatively lower than these two regions, called the "Cambrai threshold" or the "Bapaume threshold", which facilitates the passage between the south and the north: Bapaume (Artois)

21484-432: The obverse and may be later additions, or as Campbell speculates, "done for the artist's amusement". Painting each side of a panel was practical since it prevented the wood from warping. Usually the frames of hinged works were constructed before the individual panels were worked on. Glue binder was often used as an inexpensive alternative to oil. Many works using this medium were produced but few survive today because of

21648-407: The overall design of the painting, and typically painted the focal portions, such as the faces, hands and the embroidered parts of the figure's clothing. The more prosaic elements would be left to assistants; in many works it is possible to discern abrupt shifts in style, with the relatively weak Deesis passage in van Eyck's Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych being a better-known example. Often

21812-623: The painter known as the Master of the Life of the Virgin , both of whom, working in mid-15th-century Cologne , drew inspiration from imported works by van der Weyden and Bouts. New and distinctive painterly cultures sprang up; Ulm , Nuremberg , Vienna and Munich were the most important artistic centres in the Holy Roman Empire at the start of the 16th century. There was a rise in demand for printmaking (using woodcuts or copperplate engraving ) and other innovations borrowed from France and southern Italy. Some 16th-century painters borrowed heavily from

21976-441: The period show a strong stylistic resemblance to Gerard David, though it is unclear whether they are from his hands or those of followers. A number of factors led to the popularity of Netherlandish illuminators. Primary was the tradition and expertise that developed in the region in the centuries following the monastic reform of the 14th century, building on the growth in number and prominence of monasteries, abbeys and churches from

22140-818: The power of the Emperor and Spain, renewed the alliance of France with the United Provinces . The main effort of France had to focus on the Spanish Netherlands , and a sharing plan was established with the Dutch, with France to receive the Hainaut, Cambrésis, Artois, a large part of Flanders and Luxembourg and the County of Namur. War was declared against Spain in 1635: It was followed by a long series of wars which, compounded by subsistence and epidemics, caused crises which would bruise

22304-418: The powerful families of England and Scotland. At first, masters had acted as their own dealers, attending fairs where they could also buy frames, panels and pigments. The mid-century saw the development of art dealership as a profession; the activity became purely commercially driven, dominated by the mercantile class. Smaller works were not usually produced on commission. More often the masters anticipated

22468-510: The previous century's techniques and styles. Even progressive artists such as Jan Gossaert made copies, such as his reworking of van Eyck's Madonna in the Church . Gerard David linked the styles of Bruges and Antwerp , often travelling between the cities. He moved to Antwerp in 1505, when Quentin Matsys was the head of the local painters' guild , and the two became friends. By the 16th century

22632-422: The rules set higher citizenship requirements for miniaturists and prohibited them from using oils. Overall, panel painters enjoyed the highest level of protection, with cloth painters ranking below. Membership of a guild was highly restricted and access was difficult for newcomers. A master was expected to serve an apprenticeship in his region, and show proof of citizenship, which could be obtained through birth in

22796-497: The same altitude, it is less than those of Toulouse at 656 millimetres (25.8 in) or Nice at 767 millimetres (30.2 in). However, the number of days of rain (63 in Nice, 120 in Cambrai) confirms the oceanic character of the climate. The mean thermal amplitude between the winter and summer does not exceed 15 °C. Although again establishing a comparison with Paris, that Cambrai

22960-515: The scene became important for the first time; in the Arnolfini Portrait , van Eyck arranges the scene as if the viewer has just entered the room containing the two figures. Advancements in technique allowed far richer, more luminous and closely detailed representations of people, landscapes, interiors and objects. Although, the use of oil as a binding agent can be traced to the 12th century, innovations in its handling and manipulation define

23124-490: The separation between the heavenly from earthly, but placed them in everyday settings such as churches, domestic chambers or seated with court officials. Yet the earthly churches are heavily decorated with heavenly symbols. A heavenly throne is clearly represented in some domestic chambers (for example in the Lucca Madonna ). More difficult to discern are the settings for paintings such as Madonna of Chancellor Rolin , where

23288-555: The spectator with a transfigured view of visible reality". To him the day-to-day is harmoniously steeped in symbolism, such that, according to Harbison, "descriptive data were rearranged ... so that they illustrated not earthly existence but what he considered supernatural truth." This blend of the earthly and heavenly evidences van Eyck's belief that the "essential truth of Christian doctrine" can be found in "the marriage of secular and sacred worlds, of reality and symbol". He depicts overly large Madonnas, whose unrealistic size shows

23452-445: The start of the 15th century, Gothic manuscripts from Paris dominated the northern European market. Their popularity was in part due to the production of more affordable, single leaf miniatures which could be inserted into unillustrated books of hours. These were at times offered in a serial manner designed to encourage patrons to "include as many pictures as they could afford", which clearly presented them as an item of fashion but also as

23616-467: The state – his politics and authority, his learning and piety". Because of his patronage the manuscript industry in the Lowlands grew so that it dominated Europe for several generations. The Burgundian book-collecting tradition passed to Philip's son and his wife, Charles the Bold and Margaret of York ; his granddaughter Mary of Burgundy and her husband Maximilian I ; and to his son-in-law, Edward IV , who

23780-570: The textile industry gave it prosperity in the Middle Ages , but in modern times it is less industrialised than its neighbours of Nord-Pas-de-Calais . Cambrai was the Duke of Wellington 's headquarters, for the British Army of Occupation, from 1815 to 1818. Occupied by the German army during World War I , Cambrai suffered partial destruction in the First Battle of Cambrai from British artillery attacks on

23944-493: The time) and were later transferred to Cambrai, an administrative centre for the region. Successive bishops, including Gaugericus (in French Géry), founded abbeys and churches to host relics, which contributed powerfully to giving Cambrai both the appearance and functions of a city. When the Treaty of Verdun in 843 split Charlemagne 's empire into three parts, the county of Cambrai fell into Lothaire 's kingdom. However, upon

24108-523: The town, including the nearby Bourlon Wood. The fighting around Cambrai, known as the Battle of Cambrai (20 November 1917 – 3 December 1917) is notable in that it is considered to be the first mass use of tanks in battle. A second Battle of Cambrai took place between 8 and 10 October 1918 as part of the Hundred Days Offensive . World War II was followed by reconstructions and a rapidly developing economy and population, abruptly reversed by

24272-523: The towns of the former Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin , it is also part of the Metropolitan area of Lille  [ fr ] which has more than 3.8 million inhabitants. Towards the end of the Roman Empire , Cambrai replaced Bavay as the "capital" of the land of the Nervii . At the beginning of the Merovingian era, Cambrai became the seat of an immense archdiocese covering all the right bank of

24436-448: The transporting of a marble Madonna and Child by Michelangelo to Bruges in 1506, and the arrival of Raphael 's tapestry cartoons to Brussels in 1517, which were widely seen while in the city. Although the influence of Italian art was soon widespread across the north, it in turn had drawn on the 15th-century northern painters, with Michelangelo's Madonna based on a type developed by Hans Memling . Netherlandish painting ends in

24600-495: The unusual concentration of the child's facial features in a small portion of his head, which gives him an unusually long forehead. The Cambrai Madonna was acquired by Jean Allarmet Cardinal of Brogny (d. 1426), who gave it to his secretary Fursy de Bruille, a canon of the Cambrai cathedral chapter , in Rome in 1440. De Bruille brought it to Cambrai, accepting its provenance as a work painted by Saint Luke, and in 1450 presented it to

24764-470: The use of oil paint; a claim that, while exaggerated, indicates the extent to which van Eyck helped disseminate the technique. Van Eyck employed a new level of virtuosity, mainly from taking advantage of the fact that oil dries so slowly; this gave him more time and more scope for blending and mixing layers of different pigments, and his technique was quickly adopted and refined by both Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden . These three artists are considered

24928-425: The vision of hell in van Eyck's Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych . Bosch followed his own muse, tending instead towards moralism and pessimism. His paintings, especially the triptychs , are among the most significant and accomplished of the late Netherlandish period. The Reformation brought changes in outlook and artistic expression as secular and landscape imagery overtook biblical scenes. Sacred imagery

25092-519: The work attracted thousands of pilgrims, including Philip the Good (1457), Charles the Bold (1460) and Louis XI of France , who left his kingdom to see it in 1468, 1477 and 1478. Philip the Good encouraged the growth of a cult around the painting, commissioning numerous copies following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Philip hoped that the Cambrai Madonna would serve as a significant icon, around which he could rally sufficient religious fervour to launch

25256-447: The work is shown in "the more subtle modeling of the faces, the volumetric aspect of the draperies with soft folds, the Latin inscriptions", and the style of the "elaborate punchwork of the haloes". A number of oddities in the different versions indicate that the many Italian versions came from a single source; primarily the closeness of the two figures' faces, their seeming embrace, as well as

25420-630: Was John of Burgundy , Philip the Good's illegitimate half-brother, and in June 1455 the cathedral chapter commissioned twelve copies from Hayne of Brussels for twenty pounds, of which one is believed to survive, now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City . Like the van der Weyden in Houston, this freely interprets the Cambrai original in a contemporary Netherlandish style; the Madonna's faces are of

25584-770: Was an avid collector of Flemish manuscripts. The libraries left by Philip and Edward IV formed the nucleus from which sprang the Royal Library of Belgium and the English Royal Library . Netherlandish illuminators had an important export market, designing many works specifically for the English market. Following a decline in domestic patronage after Charles the Bold died in 1477, the export market became more important. Illuminators responded to differences in taste by producing more lavish and extravagantly decorated works tailored for foreign elites, including Edward IV of England, James IV of Scotland and Eleanor of Viseu . There

25748-556: Was blended with mythological themes. A full break from the mid-15th-century style and subject matter was not seen until the development of Northern Mannerism around 1590. There was considerable overlap, and the early- to mid-16th-century innovations can be tied to the Mannerist style, including naturalistic secular portraiture, the depiction of ordinary (as opposed to courtly) life, and the development of elaborate landscapes and cityscapes that were more than background views. The origins of

25912-453: Was carried in procession through the town on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15). The legend that developed around the icon held that it was secretly revered in Jerusalem during the persecutions . It was supposedly gifted to Aelia Pulcheria , daughter of Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius in 430 and taken to Constantinople where it was publicly honored over the centuries. In Cambrai,

26076-470: Was commissioned in 1454 to produce three separate copies, Rogier van der Weyden , Dieric Bouts and Gerard David . In general the Netherlandish artists sought to further humanise the image, through such devices as extending the child's arm towards his mother and painting the child in a more realistic manner. An initial burst of copies were probably connected with Philip's fund-raising for his rescue of Constantinople. The Bishop of Cambrai from 1439 to 1479

26240-463: Was considerable overlap between panel painting and illumination; van Eyck, van der Weyden, Christus and other painters designed manuscript miniatures. In addition, miniaturists would borrow motifs and ideas from panel paintings; Campin's work was often used as a source in this way, for example in the "Hours of Raoul d'Ailly". Commissions were often shared between several masters, with junior painters or specialists assisting, especially with details such as

26404-598: Was continued by, among others, the Flemish Master of James IV of Scotland (possibly Gerard Horenbout ), known for his innovative page layout. Using various illusionistic elements, he often blurred the line between the miniature and its border, frequently using both in his efforts to advance the narrative of his scenes. During the early 19th century, the collection of 15th- and 16th-century Netherlandish cut-out, as miniatures or parts for albums, became fashionable amongst connoisseurs such as William Young Ottley , leading to

26568-469: Was killed at Agincourt . The count was "warden and councilor of the cathedral". Both sets of copies may have been for distribution to courtiers, either to promote contributions to Philip's fundraising, or as a reward to those who had already contributed. The count's three copies cost twenty Flemish pounds, while the chapter's twelve cost only a pound each, a point which has generated much scholarly discussion. A miniature by Simon Bening of c. 1520, now in

26732-473: Was marked by scenes of looting, requisitions and arrests of hostages. From 20 November to 17 December 1917, the vicinity of the town of Cambrai was the theatre of the Battle of Cambrai , which saw the massive use of tanks for the first time. In 1918, the Germans burned the city centre before leaving, destroying the city hall and the municipal archives. In total, more than 1,500 buildings were totally destroyed, of

26896-413: Was shown in a didactic and moralistic manner, with religious figures becoming marginalized and relegated to the background. Pieter Bruegel the Elder , one of the few who followed Bosch's style, is an important bridge between the Early Netherlandish artists and their successors. His work retains many 15th-century conventions, but his perspective and subjects are distinctly modern. Sweeping landscapes came to

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