Robert Campin
Pioneering Netherlandish painter, key figure in the early Northern Renaissance.
Chronology: 1375 – 1444-04-26
Origins & Early Life
Robert Campin (c. 1378 – 26 April 1444), now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych before the discovery of three other similar panels), was a master painter who, along with Jan van Eyck, initiated the development of early Netherlandish painting, a key development in the early Northern Renaissance. While the existence of a highly successful painter called Robert Campin is relatively well documented for the period, no works can be certainly identified as by him through a signature or contemporary documentation. A group of paintings, none dated, have been long attributed to him, and a further group were once attributed to an unknown "Master of Flémalle".
Pivotal Works & Achievements
It is now usually thought that both groupings are by Campin, but this has been a matter of some controversy for decades. A corpus of work is attached to the unidentified "Master of Flémalle," so named in the 19th century after three religious panels said to have come from a monastery in Flémalle. They are each assumed to be wings of triptychs or polyptychs, and are the Virgin and Child with a Firescreen now in London, a panel fragment with the Thief on the Cross in Frankfurt, and the...
Enduring Legacy & Impact
The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.
Source: Wikipedia