
Melchior Broederlam (born
Ypres
Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though
the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...
, perhaps 1350; died Ypres?, after 1409) was one of the earliest
Early Netherlandish painter
Early Netherlandish painting is the body of work by artists active in the Burgundian Netherlands, Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period, once known as the Flemish Primitives. It flour ...
s to whom surviving works can be confidently attributed. He worked mostly for
Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and is documented from 1381 to 1409.
Although only a single large pair of
panel painting
A panel painting is a painting made on a flat panel of wood, either a single piece or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, panel painting was the normal method, when not pain ...
s can confidently be attributed to him, no history of Western painting can neglect his contribution.
Life
His early career included a lengthy stay in Italy, where he adopted a sense of space and use of modelling influenced by
Trecento
The Trecento (, also , ; short for , "1300") refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history. The Trecento is considered to be the beginning of the Italian Renaissance or at least the Proto-Renaissance in art history. The Trecento was als ...
painting. From 1381 he was
court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
to
Louis de Mâle,
Duke of Brabant
The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I, Duke of Brabant, Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Le ...
, and from Louis's death in 1384 worked for his son-in-law and successor, Philip the Bold, although he remained based in
Ypres
Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though
the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...
, doing much work, mostly decorative, at Philip's now vanished chateau at
Hesdin, which was full of elaborate mechanical devices, of what we might today call a fairground nature, which needed painting. Like many court artists, including
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck ( ; ; – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Nort ...
, he was appointed ''
valet de chambre
''Valet de chambre'' (), or ''varlet de chambre'', was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal households had many persons appointed at any time. While some valets simply waited on ...
'' to the Duke (in 1387), and in 1391 promoted to court painter. He continued to work for Philip's successor
John the Fearless
John I (; ; 28 May 1371 – 10 September 1419) was a scion of the French royal family who ruled the Burgundian State from 1404 until his assassination in 1419. He played a key role in French national affairs during the early 15th century, part ...
, but last appears in the Ducal accounts in 1409.
Dijon panels
Probably his only surviving paintings (as opposed to painted carvings) are the two outsides of the wings for a well-documented carved
altarpiece
An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...
by
Jacques de Baerze commissioned by Philip for the
charterhouse of
Champmol
The Chartreuse de Champmol, formally the ''Chartreuse de la Sainte-Trinité de Champmol'', was a Carthusian monastery on the outskirts of Dijon, which is now in France, but in the 15th century was the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy. The monast ...
near
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
, which Broederlam completed in 1399, also gilding and painting the wood carvings inside. This is now in the
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon
The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon is a museum of fine arts opened in 1787, in Dijon, France. It is one of the main and oldest museums of France. It is located in the historic city centre of Dijon and housed in the former ducal palace which was ...
, as is another altarpiece from the same commission, for which he gilded and painted the carved figures;
he had apparently also painted outside panels for this, but they are lost.
Guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
rules usually mandated that carving and painting were performed by members of different guilds.
Broederlam's use of
oil paint
Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. Oil paint also has practical advantages over other paints, mainly because it is waterproof.
The earliest surviving ...
had a strong impact on the painters of the following generation, including
Robert Campin
Robert Campin (Valenciennes (France) c. 1375 - Tournai (Belgium) 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 pai ...
and Jan van Eyck. Both panels include two scenes, with an extensive landscape, and look into pavilion-like buildings in a manner derived from Italy. Although the
perspective is far from fully developed, light and shadow are used to create a sense of depth in a very advanced fashion, and the realistic depiction of
Saint Joseph
According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus.
Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...
was to become characteristic of Netherlandish painting. Although the skies are painted in gold in the Dijon panels, a flying hawk in one shows they are intended as real space. The buildings in the ''Annunciation'' combine Romanesque and Gothic areas, probably intended to contrast the Old and New Testaments, in a visual metaphor that was to become characteristic of Eyckian painting. The panels contain much of the contemporary
International Gothic
International Gothic is a period of Gothic art that began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by the ...
but also "announce a new world of naturalism and disguised symbolism that will be further refined in the works of his successors in the Netherlands."
Possible other works
Some other works have been attributed to him or his workshop, but without being generally accepted. In particular six scenes (two panels are painted on both sides) from an altarpiece from Champmol, now equally divided between Antwerp and Baltimore, have often been attributed to him, although iconographic and stylistic details suggest a
Mosan origin.
[Snyder, 72–7]
One of the Baltimore panels
– the first photo is the Annunciation – the Baptism of Christ is shown in the enlarged view
.
Notes
References
* Anne Hagopian van Buren, "Broederlam, Melchior," ''
Grove Art Online
''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...
'',
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
ccessed 14 April 2008*
Snyder, James; ''Northern Renaissance Art'', 1985, Harry N. Abrams,
* Vaughan, Richard
Philip the Bold, The Formation of the Burgundian State Boydell Press, 2002,
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broederlam, Melchior
1350s births
1410s deaths
Gothic painters
Early Netherlandish painters
Court painters
Artists from Ypres