Work of Art DetailsWing of a Folding Altarpiece Showing the Baptism of Christ Description: This extremely important masterpiece is one of the earliest paintings of the Netherlandish school. The style suggests that the artist came from Guelders, in the northern Netherlands, as did the famous Limbourg brothers, who settled in Paris. The overall theme of the six scenes--Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Baptism, Saint Christopher--is the divinity of Christ and the certainty of salvation. It is one of the earliest works where we find evidence of oil paint, a medium that, through its translucency, helps to bring out the richness and vibrancy of details from nature, such as the fish swimming in the Jordan River. The realism for which 15th-century Northern European painting is known is evident in the close attention paid to describing nature with such detail. This Baptism scene is an outer wing of a small, folding altarpiece of which one half (including the Annunciation and Calvary) belongs to the Walters and the other (the Nativity, Resurrection, Saint Christopher) to the Museum Meyer van den Bergh, Antwerp. The altarpiece can be traced back to the Carthusian monastery of Champmol near Dijon, France, founded by Philip the Bold (1342-1404), Duke of Burgundy, and surely was made for Philip to take on his travels. Artist: Anonymous (Netherlandish) Culture: Burgundian Period: Late Medieval Country: France Style: Gothic Provenance: The Chartreuse de Champmol, until 1772-1774 (?); Louis XV, King of France, Paris and Versailles [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Cardinal Charles Antoine de la Roche-Aymon, Château de Champigny-les-Vitraux [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Charles Guillaume de la Roche-Aymon (d. 1851) [date of acquisition unknown], by inheritance; Cuvillier, Niort, Deux Sèvres, prior to 1904, by purchase; Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co., Paris [date of acquisition unknown], by purchase; Henry Walters, New York, 1919, by purchase; Sadie Jones [Mrs. Henry Walters], New York, 1931, by inheritence; Mrs. Henry Walters Sale, New York, 1939; Walters Art Museum, 1939, by purchase. Credit Line: Museum purchase, 1939 |
