The Fifteenth-Century Netherlandish Schools

Rating:
Summary: Cool Pictures, and Good Research
Review: A British art historian and critic, Lorne Campbell serves as research curator at the National Gallery in London. His fully illustrated book serves as a catalogue of fifteenth century paintings from the Netherlands (including the Low Countries and northern France) in full color, accompanied by many details, comparative illustrations, and technical photographs. Campbell manages to teach the reader not only a vast amount of information regarding the pictures and their artists, but also an overview of the whole School. By using a broad historical context, Campbell comments on an array of subjects: the painters and their patrons; the ways in which the pictures were used; how the painters' workshops functioned; how their assistants were employed; how the necessary reference material was gathered, used, and circulated; how the pictures were painted; and he takes the results of pictures and makes supported generalizations about materials, working practices, and techniques. The greatest Netherlandish painters were men of astonishing creativity, and immense visual sophistication. The two most renown are Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1463) and Jan van Eyck (1380-1441). Other notable painters discussed by Campbell are Bouts, Campin, David, van der Goes, Marmion, and Memling. Undoubtedly, the strongest feature of this book is Campbell's extensive technical investigation of each painting. His knowledge and expertise in the subject is obvious. It is a superbly produced plethora of facts, and I am certain it is the result of many years of patient research. In fact, I counted a total of 2,241footnotes that correspond to 194 references (luckily, there's a helpful index in the back)! For example, Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife, by Jan van Eyck, runs to thirty-eight pages and 312 footnotes, with eight color reproductions, a photo of the reverse, and a dozen comparisons. On the other hand, the forte of the book could also be its downfall. Campbell states that the book is meant for the interested general reader as well as the specialist. True, an amateur reader, like myself, can read the text and understand most of Campbell's message - granted, with considerable effort. But I assume the detailed art terminology involving x-radiographs, infrared reflectogram photographs, and microscopic paint samples would better serve an art specialist. Also, Campbell ironically states in the preface that he doesn't want to overburden the text with references. Considering the vast amount of references he did in fact use, I am interested to see a book by Campbell that is `overburdened.' Although the book is dense with technical jargon, I suggest it for anyone wanting to learn more about art during the Renaissance. As opposed to Campbell's book Renaissance Portraits, which apparently has weakly supported claims (as presented in class), this book is saturated with solid research and convincing claims. By using scientific and historical evidence, Lorne Campbell analyzes the methods and working practices of the era; moreover, his book adds to the contemporary understanding of the Netherlandish artists' incredible accomplishments.

Rating:
Summary: Cool Pictures, and Good Research
Review: A British art historian and critic, Lorne Campbell serves as research curator at the National Gallery in London. His fully illustrated book serves as a catalogue of fifteenth century paintings from the Netherlands (including the Low Countries and northern France) in full color, accompanied by many details, comparative illustrations, and technical photographs. Campbell manages to teach the reader not only a vast amount of information regarding the pictures and their artists, but also an overview of the whole School. By using a broad historical context, Campbell comments on an array of subjects: the painters and their patrons; the ways in which the pictures were used; how the painters' workshops functioned; how their assistants were employed; how the necessary reference material was gathered, used, and circulated; how the pictures were painted; and he takes the results of pictures and makes supported generalizations about materials, working practices, and techniques. The greatest Netherlandish painters were men of astonishing creativity, and immense visual sophistication. The two most renown are Rogier van der Weyden (1399-1463) and Jan van Eyck (1380-1441). Other notable painters discussed by Campbell are Bouts, Campin, David, van der Goes, Marmion, and Memling. Undoubtedly, the strongest feature of this book is Campbell's extensive technical investigation of each painting. His knowledge and expertise in the subject is obvious. It is a superbly produced plethora of facts, and I am certain it is the result of many years of patient research. In fact, I counted a total of 2,241footnotes that correspond to 194 references (luckily, there's a helpful index in the back)! For example, Portrait of Giovanni (?) Arnolfini and his Wife, by Jan van Eyck, runs to thirty-eight pages and 312 footnotes, with eight color reproductions, a photo of the reverse, and a dozen comparisons. On the other hand, the forte of the book could also be its downfall. Campbell states that the book is meant for the interested general reader as well as the specialist. True, an amateur reader, like myself, can read the text and understand most of Campbell's message - granted, with considerable effort. But I assume the detailed art terminology involving x-radiographs, infrared reflectogram photographs, and microscopic paint samples would better serve an art specialist. Also, Campbell ironically states in the preface that he doesn't want to overburden the text with references. Considering the vast amount of references he did in fact use, I am interested to see a book by Campbell that is 'overburdened.' Although the book is dense with technical jargon, I suggest it for anyone wanting to learn more about art during the Renaissance. As opposed to Campbell's book Renaissance Portraits, which apparently has weakly supported claims (as presented in class), this book is saturated with solid research and convincing claims. By using scientific and historical evidence, Lorne Campbell analyzes the methods and working practices of the era; moreover, his book adds to the contemporary understanding of the Netherlandish artists' incredible accomplishments.