H.N.B. Ridderbos | University of Groningen (original) (raw)

Papers by H.N.B. Ridderbos

The Sixteenth century journal, Jul 1, 2007

figure 7-Robert Campin (?), The Mérode Triptych (central panel 64.1 x 63.2 cm; each wing 64.5 x 2... more figure 7-Robert Campin (?), The Mérode Triptych (central panel 64.1 x 63.2 cm; each wing 64.5 x 27.3 cm), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection figure 8-Robert Campin, The Annunciation (61 x 63.2 cm), Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels figure 9-Robert Campin (?), The Mérode Triptych, right wing: Saint Joseph in his workshop figure 10-Rogier van der Weyden, The Descent from the Cross (220.5 x 259.5 cm), Museo del Prado, Madrid figure 12-Copy after Robert Campin, The Descent from the Cross Triptych (central panel 59.5 x 60 cm; each wing 59.5 x 26.5 cm), The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool and Gothic art: like the expositions of Denis the Carthusian and Thomas a Kempis, Rogier's painting summons the viewer to experience the suffering of the Virgin and Christ. The pervasive rhythm of the composition also served to arouse a devotional response. Where Campin engaged the viewer by leading his eye from the one group to another and into depth in order to show every incident in the narrative, Rogier achieved a synthesis. Neither style is distinct from the painting's function in conveying the subject: Campin made it come alive and Rogier directly appealed to the viewer's emotions. The parallel poses of Christ and Mary fit the artist's compositional practice so perfectly that one is inclined to credit him with its invention, but that implies a specific theological knowledge which cannot be taken for granted among painters. The chapel of Our Lady of Ginderbuiten was dedicated to Mary's sorrows, and the prominent display of her suffering in the painting must express the wish of the chapel's ecclesiastical authorities and the patrons, the crossbowmen. This wish was translated into a symbolical portrayal of that grief in a form no other artist of that time could have conceived so movingly. The interaction, however, among Rogier, his patrons, and, probably, a theological adviser cannot be reconstructed. rogier van der weyden Christ on the Cross with the Virgin and Saint John The same inventory of the Escorial that lists the Descent from the Cross is a source for another equally monumental work by Rogier van der Weyden, one preserved in the Spanish palace [fig. 13]. The picture is mentioned as 'a large panel on which is painted Christ Our Lord on the cross, with Our Lady and Saint John, from the hand of Master Rogier'. 53 The inventory also states that it had been in the royal palace in Segovia and in the Charterhouse of Brussels. The latter place, the Charterhouse of Scheut, in the vicinity of Brussels, was the original location. In 1448/49 Rogier's son Cornelis entered the Charterhouse of Herinnes, which provided the first prior of the new monastery of Scheut. According to fifteenth-century documents, van der Weyden gave the House of Scheut both money and paintings, and an account of the monastery from 1555 mentions the sale of an image of the crucified Christ given by 'Master Rogier'. 54 Since the monastery was founded in 1456, this year is a terminus post quem for the picture. 55 It has suffered considerable damage and has been overpainted; despite a restoration in 1946-1947 its condition is still ruinous. The crucified Christ is placed against a red cloth hung over a gray wall. His loincloth and the robes of the Virgin and Saint John, now grayish, were originally-28-early netherlandish paintings-29-figure 13-Rogier van der Weyden, Christ on the Cross with the Virgin and Saint John (325 x 192 cm), Escorial, Monasterio de San Lorenzo figure 16-Rogier van der Weyden, The Polyptych of the Last Judgment, interior: Apostles, female saints and damned souls early netherlandish paintings 1-objects and questions-37-van Eyck, but in the second half of the nineteenth century it was restored to Rogier van der Weyden and this attribution is generally accepted. The Adoration of the Magi occupies the central panel. The kings and their retinue form a descending, diagonal movement ending in the middle, where the eldest king touches the Child. Their driving force is counterbalanced by the Virgin and Saint Joseph, who frames the scene with the young king at the far right, just as John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalen frame Rogier's Descent from the Cross. The adoration of the eldest king is particularly emotional: leading both his companions and the viewer in the devotion for Christ, he grasps the Child by the feet with one hand and with the other raises the Child's hand to his lips. This encounter is emphasized by the axis running through the hat before the king, the motif of the kiss and the crucifix that, in token of the future Passion, hangs on a pillar at the rear of the stable. Thus, the Christ Child, together with the crucifix, reminds us of Salvation and the kiss and the doffed hat express veneration. The stable functions as a piece of stage scenery before which the protagonists are placed. It is in the form of a ruin, which could, as in other Netherlandish pictures, refer to the Old Covenant abrogated by the coming of Christ. The figures and the stable are connected by the ass, bending over a manger perpendicular to the picture plane, and the retinue of the kings, pushing forward through an opening in the right wall. This wall runs into the foreground, but its advance is splayed outward to reinforce the planarity of the composition. A landscape with a town looms up behind the stable like another piece of scenery. The foreground and background are linked by a road which starts behind the donor. Although this painting has no golden niche, like the Descent from the Cross, a wall with a hanging, like the Escorial Christ on the Cross, or a golden heaven, like the Last Judgment, again Rogier affirmed his predilection for a frieze-like arrangement that allowed him to exercise his talent for compositional tension. The groups are not only determined by the diagonal movement from the right and the verticals of Mary and Joseph, but also by two curves which run through the heads of nearly all the figures and intersect in the kneeling king. The arched openings in the stable create a faster counterrhythm, which dissolves in the one arch rising above the stable roof. There is also a rhythmic tension between, on the one hand, the figures of Joseph, Mary and the two younger kings, and, on the other, the pillars of the stable. Many small motifs contribute to the rhythmic character of the composition as well, such as the fluttering scarf of the turban of the youngest king, the curve of his sword, the elegant whippet at his feet, the jutting knee of the second king, the rich folds of his mantle, and the rippling sleeves of the eldest king. Reinforcing the encounter with the Christ Child, the folds of these sleeves accelerate the movement from the right which begins in the flourish of the raised turban and ends in the large hat on the figure 17-Rogier van der Weyden, The Columba Altarpiece (central panel 139.5 x 152.9 cm; left wing 139.4 x 72.9; right wing 139.2 x 72.5 cm), Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, München figure 18-Stefan Lochner, The Adoration of the Magi Triptych (Das Dombild) (central panel 260 x 285 cm; each wing 261 x 142 cm), Cologne Cathedral This is John the Baptist, greater than man, like unto the angels, the sum of the law, who sowed the gospel, the voice of the apostles, the silence of the prophets, the lamp of the world, the witness of the Lord. (Hic est Baptista Iohannes, maior homine, par angelis, legis summa, evangelii sacio, apostolorum vox, silencium prophetarum, lucerna mundi, Domini testis.) figure 25-Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait (82.2 x 60 cm), The National Gallery, London figure 26-Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, detail: Mirror and inscription early netherlandish paintings figure 27-Copy after Jan van Eyck, Women at her Toilet (Bathsheba?) (27.5 x 16.5 cm), Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts figure 28-Willem van Haecht, Albert and Isabella Visiting the Art-Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest (104 x 139 cm), Rubenshuis, Antwerp figure 29-Willem van Hacht, Albert and Isabella Visiting the Art-Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, detail: Jan van Eyck (?), Woman at her Toilet figure 32-Hans Memling, Luxuria (20.2 x 13.1 cm), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg figure 33-Petrus Christus, The Annunciation and the Nativity (134 x 56 cm), Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin figure 34-Petrus Christus, The Last Judgment (134 x 56 cm), Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin figure 36-Hand G, Funeral Mass, The Turin-Milan Hours, fol. 116r, Museo Civico, Turin figure 37-Rogier van der Weyden (or follower), The Annunciation, (87 x 91.5 cm), Musée du Louvre, Paris figure 46-Dirk Bouts, The Justice of Emperor Otto III: The Ordeal by Fire (323.5 x 181.5 cm), Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels figure 47-Hugo van der Goes, The Portinari Altarpiece, exterior, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence figure 48-Hugo van der Goes, The Portinari Altarpiece, interior (central panel 253 x 304 cm; each wing 253 x 141 cm), Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence figure 67-Hugo van der Goes, The Nativity (97 x 246 cm), Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin figure 71-Hans Memling, The Triptych of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, exterior, Hospital of Saint John, Bruges figure 72-Hans Memling, The Triptych of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, interior (central panel including frame 193.5 x 194.7 cm; left wing including frame 193.2 x 97.1 cm; right wing including frame 193.3 cm x 97.3 cm), Hospital of Saint John, Bruges early netherlandish paintings figure 73-Hans Memling, The Triptych of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, interior, right wing: Saint John the Evangelist and apocalyptic scenes figure 79-Geertgen tot Sint Jans, The Man of Sorrows (26.2 x 25.2 cm), Rijksmuseum Het Catharijneconvent, Utrecht figure 81-Albert van Ouwater, The Raising of Lazarus (122 x...

Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, Mar 1, 2022

Since technical research revealed that the center panel of the Mérode Altarpiece is based on an A... more Since technical research revealed that the center panel of the Mérode Altarpiece is based on an Annunciation in Brussels and that the wings were added at a later stage, the painting has lost its status as a key work in both the oeuvre of the Master of Flémalle and the history of painting. Analysis of artistic and iconographic elements of the Mérode Annunciation in comparison to the Brussels Annunciation, however, shows that the image should not be considered a less important work than its model but a product of choices and intentions aiming to optimize its function as a visual accompaniment of a personal prayer practice. Compositional and iconographic discrepancies between the wings and the center panel suggest that the work was transformed into an altarpiece with a specific devotional intention.

The Burlington Magazine, 1982

Early Netherlandish Paintings, 2003

Bernhard Ridderbos, "Choices and Intentions in the Mérode Altarpiece," Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 14:1 (Winter 2022), 2022

Oud Holland - Quarterly for Dutch Art History, 2017

Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

Oud Holland 2022 (135), 8-39 , 2022

Although some scholars have argued the opposite, the Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck,... more Although some scholars have argued the opposite, the Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, completed in 1432, was conceived as a coherent whole. From the start it was destined to visually accompany the masses that Joos Vijd and Elisabeth Borluut wished to have celebrated until the end of time, in their chapel in the Church of St John. The iconographic program can be interpreted by reconstructing how it was composed with the help of one or more theological advisors, in order to
express the donors’ hopes for the salvation of themselves and their ancestors. The coincidence of the inauguration of the Ghent Altarpiece and the baptism of Josse of Burgundy on the same day, 6 May 1432,
gives no reason to assume that the program of the painting was adapted to commemorate the baptism and that, contrary to what the quatrain on the exterior frames states, the whole altarpiece was not yet completed on this date. Nor should the foundation act for a daily mass in the Vijd chapel, from 13 May 1435, be seen as an indication of a later date of completion, since it appears from this document that masses were already being held at this location. The purposes that the masses had to fulfil, as worded
in the act, constituted the basis for the iconographic program.
Whereas the images of the lower interior side panels were used for references to the Vijd family, the beatitudes that the donors hoped to attain acquired a specific significance in the Adoration of the Lamb:
the tableau vivant representing the Ghent Altarpiece in 1458 and several other sources testify that the groups in this panel were intended to symbolize the Beatitudes, with accompanying texts on the lost
frame. The fact that seven, instead of eight, Beatitudes were referred to can be explained by their usual connection with the Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost. A promise of being comforted, however, which is the
subject of the missing Beatitude, is written, in the upper register, in the open book of John the Baptist, who is closely related to the Adoration.
The theory that the subject of the New Heaven and New Earth was chosen as a central theme of the interior is supported by two miniatures in the pre-Eyckian Apocalypse in Dietsche. They have a considerable number of motifs in common with the Ghent Altarpiece and may even have served as a source of inspiration for its program. These motifs were combined with elements from the iconography of the Deesis and of All Saints and they were attuned to the eucharistic function of the painting. The identification of the New Heaven and New Earth as the main subject of the interior leads to the insight that all parts of the exterior, including the texts of the prophets and sibyls and the text fragments in the Virgin’s book in the Annunciation, can be taken as preparing for the opened altarpiece.

A.A.MacDonald, H.N.B.Ridderbos and R.M.Schlusemann, eds, The Broken Body: Passion Devotion in Late-Medieval Culture, pp. 145-181, 1998

This paper analyzes the development of the theme of the Man of Sorrows from twelfth-century Byzan... more This paper analyzes the development of the theme of the Man of Sorrows from twelfth-century Byzantine painting until 15th-century Italian and Netherlandish art.

Bernhard Ridderbos, 'Mythic - religious - esthetic: Experiencing Bellini's Brera-Pietà', in: Marcel Bax, Barend van Heusden & Wolfgang Wildgen, Semiotic Evolution and the Dynamics of Culture, Bern etc . 2004, pp. 231-246, 2004

This paper relates the artistic character of Giovanni Bellini's Pietà in the Brera, in Milan, and... more This paper relates the artistic character of Giovanni Bellini's Pietà in the Brera, in Milan, and its inscription to three different levels of experiencing the painting, i.e. mythic, religious and esthetic, the last level implying the development of the sense of art and artistic self-consciousness. The three levels correspond to the mythical, religious and esthetic stages that are described by Ernst Cassirer in his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms.

Bernhard Ridderbos, 'Coinvolgere e simbolizzare: il carattere devozionale della pittura antica', in: Storia religiosa di Belgio, Olanda e Lussemburgo, a cura di Luciano Vaccaro, Milano 2000, 2000

This paper analyzes a number of Early Netherlandish paintings in order to show the two sides of t... more This paper analyzes a number of Early Netherlandish paintings in order to show the two sides of their devotional character: on the one hand they involve the beholder into the image, on the other they have a symbolic function.

Bernhard Ridderbos, 'How Italian is the Arnolfini Double Portrait?', in: 'Aux Quatre Vents'. A Festschrift for Bert W. Meijer, edited by Anton W.A. Boschloo, Edward Grasman and Gert Jan van der Sman, with the assistance of Oscar ten Houten, Florence 2002, pp. 167-174, 2002

This paper discusses the identification of the portrayed man as a member of the Arnolfini family,... more This paper discusses the identification of the portrayed man as a member of the Arnolfini family, the subject of the painting, the presence of symbolism in relation to a lost painting by Van Eyck that may represent Bathseba, and the role the painter and the patrons played in the way the programme of the painting was conceived and executed.

Bernhard Ridderbos, 'Die Geburt Christi des Hugo van der Goes. Form, Inhalt, Funktion', Jahrbuch Berliner Museen, Neue Folge, Band 32, 1990, pp. 137-152, 1990

This article discusses the artistic character and the iconography of Hugo van der Goes' Nativity ... more This article discusses the artistic character and the iconography of Hugo van der Goes' Nativity of Christ, in Berlin, in relation to ideas on meditation propagated by the Modern Devotion, a movement of which Van der Goes, who had become a monk, was a follower.

Bernhard Ridderbos and Hans Bloemsma, 'Gates to the Heaven, Gates to the Soul', in: Signs of Change: Transformations of Christian Traditions and their Representation in the Arts, 1000-2000, edited by Nils Holger Petersen, Claus Clüver and Nicolas Bell, Amsterdam, New York, 2004, pp. 373-393, 2004

In this article developments in Byzantine and early Italian art are placed within the perspective... more In this article developments in Byzantine and early Italian art are placed within the perspective of a single process during which the relationships between images and the realities they represented gradually and partly changed. These changes stimulated a greater artistic freedom, resulting in innovations that would be claimed in later periods by Western historiography as mainly the achievement of Italian art, but that should with more reason be ascribed to new, expressive meanings of images within Byzantine culture.

Bernhard Ridderbos, 'Art and Compensation. Joos Vijd and the Programme of the Ghent Altarpiece', ... more Bernhard Ridderbos, 'Art and Compensation. Joos Vijd and the Programme of the Ghent Altarpiece', in: Christina Currie et al.., Van Eyck Studies. Paris-Leuven-Bristol 2017, pp. 137-142

This paper relates Joos Vijd's family history to both his intentions as a patron of the Ghent Altarpiece and the programme of the painting.