 |
| Rogier van der Weyden St Luke drawing the Virgin ca. 1435-40 tempera and oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
This is among the most important northern European paintings in the United States. In it Rogier exquisitely combined the Gothic legacy of stylized patterning with a new sense of naturalism. He did not, however, merely replicate the world around him, but manipulated details to create an intricate program of symbols. For example, the enclosed garden in this painting refers to the Virgin's purity, while the carved figures of Adam and Eve on the arms of the throne symbolize Christ's and Mary's roles as redeeming humankind from original sin. Rogier may have modeled St. Luke's features on his own.
– based on curator's notes at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
 |
| Anonymous artist working in Verona Judgement of Paris 15th century tempera and oil on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
 |
| Anonymous artist working in Ferrara Portrait of a Young Man ca. 1450-1500 oil on panel Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
A young man with a handsome profile and perfectly coiffed hair stares determinedly out of the panel. He may be the Hungarian poet Janus Pannonius who studied in Italy in the mid-1400s. An unknown painter created this portrait not long after oil painting was introduced into Italy from Northern Europe. The delicacy and fine details suggest that the artist might have had experience in manuscript illumination.
– based on curator's notes at the Getty Museum
 |
| Francesco Pesellino St Mamas and St James the Greater ca. 1455-60 oil on panel (altarpiece fragment) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
This is a fragment from the left side of the central panel of a large altarpiece. It shows two saints at full length. The nearer figure, St Mamas, is a twelve-year-old shepherd boy who holds a martyrs palm. On the right, St James the Greater is in a rose red robe. The lions visible behind the figures were an attribute of St. Mamas, who was thrown to lions in prison. The painting originally formed part of the Santa Trinità Altarpiece, an amply documented piece that was commissioned in September 1455 by the Company of Priests of the Trinity in Pistoia. The altarpiece represents the Trinity, and includes in the central panel the saints Mamas, James, Zeno and Jerome at either side of Christ on the Cross. In the predella below are scenes from the saints' lives, including Mamas being thrown to the lions. When Pesellino died in July 1457 the painting was finished by Fra Filippo Lippi. It was delivered in June 1460. The altarpiece was divided into several parts, probably in the 18th century, and has now been largely reassembled. This fragment is on long-term loan to the National Gallery, London, where it can be seen beside the other sections of the altarpiece.
– based on curator's notes at the Royal Collection
 |
| Anonymous Flemish artist Martyrdom of St Hippolytus ca. 1475-1500 tempera and oil on panels Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
Hippolytus, a Roman soldier, converted to Christianity upon witnessing the martyrdom of St. Lawrence. After Hippolytus refused to renounce his new faith, the Romans, according to Christian legend, drew and quartered him. Triptychs, three-paneled altarpieces, were the norm throughout northern Europe, but artists most frequently presented a separate scene in each of the three parts. Here, by spreading the scene across all three panels, the artist heightened the drama, emotional fervor, and horror of Hippolytus's stretched and tortured body.
– based on curator's notes at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
 |
| Anonymous artist working in Verona Phaeton driving the Chariot of Phoebus ca. 1475-1500 tempera or distemper on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
 |
| imitator of Piero della Francesca Portrait of a Woman ca. 1475-1500 tempera on panel Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
 |
| Anonymous Spanish artist Altarpiece of St Peter ca. 1480 tempera on panels Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
The monumental scale of this elaborate work is typical of Spanish altarpieces of the period. The altarpiece comprises a complex arrangement of twenty-six paintings. Enthroned as Pope and attended by Cardinals, the majestic figure of St. Peter is flanked by four scenes relating to his life. A depiction of Christ's Crucifixion occupies its traditional place of honor in the central panel located directly above St. Peter. To either side, the artist depicts events from the lives of the Virgin and St. Blaise, a fourth-century martyr. At some time in its history the altarpiece was dismantled, but its components were reassembled in the present form in the nineteenth century.
– based on curator's notes at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
 |
| Giovanni Corente St John the Baptist in a Landscape ca. 1480 tempera on parchment, mounted on panel Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
St. John the Baptist was Christ's preeminent prophet. He lived in the desert clad in a camel's skin, eating locusts and wild honey and preaching repentance. The extraordinary detail and meticulous technique in this small work reflect Giovanni's primary occupation as a manuscript illuminator. Indeed the image is painted on parchment, the standard surface for deluxe book-production at this time. The town in the background may represent Vicenza. Strange figures appear in the clouds. Images of saints in the wilderness gave Renaissance artists an opportunity to depict landscape, which had not yet emerged as an independent subject in European painting.
– based on curator's notes at the Walters Art Museum
 |
| Master of the Hartford Annunciation (School of Amiens) Annunciation ca. 1480 tempera and oil on panel, transferred to canvas Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
 |
| Cosimo Rosselli Adoration of the Christ Child ca. 1485 tempera and oil on panel Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
 |
| Pietro di Francesco degli Orioli Resurrection before 1496 tempera and oil on panel Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
 |
| Josse Lieferinxe Altarpiece fragment St Sebastian interceding for the Plague-Stricken ca. 1497 oil on panel Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
In the sky, St Sebastian, pierced with arrows, kneels before God the Father to plead on behalf of humanity, while an angel and demon battle beneath them. The scene in the foreground follows a legend of miraculous plague-deliverance set in 7th-century Pavia. The artist was never in Italy, and based the appearance of Pavia on that of Avignon. In 1497 Lieferinxe contracted with the Confraternity of St. Sebastian to paint an altarpiece dedicated to their patron saint in the church of Notre-Dame-des-Accoules (now destroyed) in Marseilles. Six additional panels from this altarpiece also survive in various museums around the world. [Four of these are in Philadelphia, and will appear on this screen in their turn before long.]
– based on curator's notes at the Walters Art Museum
 |
| Sandro Botticelli Judith with the Head of Holofernes ca. 1497-1500 tempera and oil on panel Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |