CHAPTER 20
PIETY, PASSION, AND POLITICS:
15TH-CENTURY ART
IN NORTHERN EUROPE AND SPAIN
1.  Read the chapter.  View the 15th Century collection at the Royal Museums of Fine Art of Belgium!
2.  Learn the definitions for the following vocabulary and terms:
 
genre subjects
pictorial conventions
glazes		 triptych
oil paint
register		 polyptych
gesso
3.  Explore the following issues, ideas and topics for discussion:
  • Development of the illuminated manuscript. See pages 546-548 in the textbook.
  • Role of the public devotional imagery of the altarpieces in 15th Century Northern European life.  Pages 550-554.
  • Jan van Eyck and the development/use of oil paint and why the oil medium "suited the formal intentions of the Flemish painters." See page 554 and inset on page 555.
  • The growing middle classes, prosperity, and portraiture in art.  See pages 562-563.
  • Large carved wooden altarpieces (retables) of the German artists.  Pages 567-568. 
  • What is the historical source for the Spanish style known as 'plateresque?"   See page 570.
4.  Remember the following works of art.  Be able to analyze and discuss each one. 
  • January, from Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry by the Limbourg Brothers (page 547).  How does Les Tres Riches Heures represent the "increasing integration of religious and secular concerns in both art and life at that time?"
  • Ghent Altarpiece (closed) (page 551) and Ghent Altarpiece (opened) (page 552-553) by Jan van Eyck.  Describe how the characteristics of Flemish painting -- "deep, intense tonality, the illusion of flowing light, and hard enamel-like surfaces" -- seen in the Ghent Altarpiece contrast with earlier tempera works. 
  • Deposition by Rogier van der Weyden (page 554).  How does this piece explore the artist's purpose of "expressing maximum action within a limited space?"
  • Remember the Last Supper of Dirk Bouts (page 557) to compare later with the Last Supper of Andrea del Castagno (see Chapter 21, page 601) and the Last Supper of Leonardo da Vinci (see Chapter 22, page 616).
  • Compare the Portinari Altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes (page 558) with the Altarpiece of the Virgin with Saints and Angels by Hans Memling (page 559) and the Merode Altarpiece by Robert Campin (page 560).  Consider the presentation of the human figure, the presence of the donor portraits, displays of human emotion, various pictorial devices and/or realistic naturalism and attention to detail.
  • Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride by Jan van Eyck (page 560).  Comment on the incorporation of both secular and religious elements, the presence and meaning of many symbolic objects, and the possible purpose for this and similar works of art.
  • Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymous Bosch (page 564).  View the link and explore your own interpretation of this enigmatic work!
  • St. Anthony Tormented by Demons by Martin Schongauer (page 569).  Examine "The Development of Printmaking" (inset on page 569) and Schongauer's contribution to the graphic arts.
  • View the Colegio de San Gregorio.  See page 570. 
5.  Explore the following Internet sites and view the art:
6.  Respond to ONE ISSUE from #3 or ONE WORK OF ART from #4
 above by writing a brief (less than one
 page) report.  Send your report 
 through the  LISTSERV.  See the
 Schedule for date due. 
Detail from the center panel of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights
7.  Provide a thoughtful response to someone else's report through the
 LISTSERV.  This discussion component is extremely important, and will constitute
 your presence in the class.  See the Schedule for date due.
Page Updated 4/26/05
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Copyright M. Hoover and San Antonio College, April, 2002.  All rights reserved.