| As one of the earliest artists of the Northern Renaissance, Robert Campin is of key importance in the understanding of the development of painting in the Low Countries. Of the works attributed to this fifteenth-century Netherlandish painter, several show Byzantine influences. This dissertation explores the relationship between these paintings and painted Byzantine icons.;One of the most important aspects of this study is to securely document the presence of Byzantine icons in the Low Countries and adjacent areas during the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Using information found in wills and inventories, I was able to document several icons then in private collections, and bring together information on the handful of Byzantine icons that still exist in present-day Belgium and neighboring areas. Contemporaneous accounts about how greatly these items were valued, both as luxury goods and as images imbued with spiritual power, served as the foundation for my argument about why Campin adapted Byzantine icons.;This dissertation focuses upon three paintings attributed to Campin. Each of these works reflects Byzantine influences, though to varying degrees and in different ways. My study of Byzantine borrowings in the work of Campin begins with his Christ and the Virgin (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia). This panel, with its trompe l'oeil metal work and simple busts of Christ and the Virgin, represents a fairly straightforward adaptation of Byzantine works. Related stylistically to this painting is Campin's Virgin and Child (Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt). However, this full-length image of the Virgo lactans relies not only upon Byzantine imagery, but reflects Campin's interest in realism. The last painting addressed in my thesis is the artist's Saint Veronica (Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt). Although its debt to Byzantium is less obvious than the two other works, it nonetheless makes reference to that culture. It also shows Campin's interest in popular religious drama and documents popular beliefs about non-European costume.;Identifying the influence of Byzantine art in Campin's paintings helps explain the artistic origins of this important but elusive master. It also elucidates one significant aspect of the development of early Netherlandish painting. Last, it suggests the importance of cross-cultural borrowings during the earliest period of the Northern Renaissance. |
