User:Victoriaearle/Early Netherlandish painting sandbox
Appearance
ENA notes
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Religious paintings 1500-50[edit]
Bruegel[edit]
Italy[edit]
15th century art market & patronage[edit]
Pacht[edit]
Diptychs[edit]
Illustrated mss[edit]
Tapestries[edit]
Rediscovery and scholarship[edit]
Iluminated manuscripts gallery[edit]
Portrait gallery[edit]
Diptych gallery[edit]
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tfa notes[edit]
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Upton[edit]
Ainsworth[edit]![]()
Gellman[edit]
Misc[edit]
Review by: Jos Koldeweij Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, Vol. 23, No. 4 (1995), pp. 268-273 Published by: Stichting voor Nederlandse Kunsthistorische Publicaties Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3780799 .
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Petrus_christus%2C_madonna_dell%27albero_secco.jpg/220px-Petrus_christus%2C_madonna_dell%27albero_secco.jpg)
Links
[edit]- grete ring
- Our Lady of the Stock
- Ainsworth
- Upton
- Hi res image
- van der welden abstract (seems to be the same as pdf)
- eisler
ainsworth (1994)
[edit]- Confraternity
Confraternity met in the Church of the Friars Minor - destroyed in 1620 (see note 6) 164Oddly only one Madonna of the Dry Tree is associated w/ the confraternity, Pieter Claeissens the Elder's triptych of c. 1520 (see note 7).164Christus's painting not listed in 1495 church inventory.164Perhaps commissioned for a member of the confraternity instead of for the chapel. Small size suggests individual devotional piece. 164Bound archives are stamped w/ an emblem of the Virgin standing in a thorny tree w/ dangling As; which suggests an official nature of the iconography, but basically not known who commissioned it. 164
- Description
- similar to Madonna of Nicolas van Maelbeke and Madonna of Jan Vos, (christ child motif); Madonna in the Church and Madonna at the Fountain robe drapery; and van der Weyden's motif of child wearing shirt. 164
- Christus employed illuminated manuscript painting techniques: he placed "tiny daubs of pure color to achieve three-dimensional effects", Virgin's left hand, child's toes, dangling As. (we need a higher res image). 164 style/technique/description?
- Virgin's robe = blending of red/blue/gree; Child's shirt "achieved by juxtaposing strokes of pure white and gray that merge when viewed from a distance". 164 style/technique/description?
- Ainsworth re the painting: "Small in size but not in impact, this painting exemplifies the peak of Christus's ability". 164
- Attribution and dating
- Since Grete Ring's 1919 attribution, no debate as to authorship. However there has been debate regarding the dating. 164
- Proponents of a date of c. 1444 point to resemblance to Exeter Madonna & JvE's Madonna of Jan Vos (she says Frick's Virgin and child) 164
- Christus's membership in the Confraternity of the Dry tree in the 1460s, & similarities to Madonna in the Church combined with Christus's renewed interest in conflating JvE w/ RvdW late in career (possible Memling introduced Christus to RvdW) as seen in Nativity (Memling) suggest date of early to mid-1460s 164
Upton
[edit]- description
- Dry Tree = peak Christus's ability to draw the viewer into and image, to experience it "as a subjective extension of our lives" 60
- "In place of the visual splendor or the royal display, this panel embodies a more muted quietude of private thought and silent reverence" 60
- Similar to Portrait of a Young Girl (Christus), for "stark abruptness of its design and color", but this was his best 60
- Pure black, red & gold, = "summon us [the viewer] with an emblem like simplicity to investigate more closely the subtle complexities of a most elaborate devotional image" 60
- Mary = serene & demure, stands in fork of the tree, 15 gothic letter As hang randomly create "shimmering pattern of reflected light" 60
- Tree grows against darkened void, warmth of the madonna suggests life, growth etc 60
- Christ child in his mother's arms, his foot clasped playfully. He is draped in linen & holds a crystal globe surmounted w/ cross = symbol of sovereignty 60
- Unlike JvE's Madonna in the Church, perhaps its model (Upton says counterpart), Christus's Mary is dressed in plainly, unadorned blue dress (some ermine at cuffs), red mantle lined with green. Hair is parted in the middle & held back by a simple thin black diadem (inset w/ pearls?? (can't see that)). 60
- Very small painting (14.7x12.4 cm) >> almost certainly a devotional piece, either commissioned by a member of the confraternity or belonging to Christus himself > handheld like Rosary beads for private devotion 65
- Christus's miniature devotional images were meant to allow viewers to meditate fully on the subject, to be absolutely absorbed as though they were actually seeing Mary and child. 65
- technique/style (or whatever we call this section)
- Tree is gray/gree w/ yellow tips. Lifeless tree juxtaposed against sparkling color 60
- The Virgin's bright red mantle is emphasized by the color contrast of its yellow-green lining 64
- Tree rises from center of lower border "repeatedly used by Christus to join physically, actual and pictorial realities" 65
- Hanging As reflect light 65
- Prickly tree branches scratch to edges lending a tactile sensation 65
- Christus's miniature devotional images were meant to allow viewers to meditate fully on the subject, to be absolutely absorbed as though they were actually seeing Mary and child. 65
- tree motif/iconography
- Tree motif refers to Tree of Knowledge, died/withered at fall & revitalized at birth of christ 60
- Crown of thorns = Christs passion > tree that caused mankind to be cast out becomes instrument of his return to grace 60
- seth's legend 60
- Tree graft motif - Guillaume de Deguileville in his Le Pèlerinage de l'Âme (The Pilgrimage of the Soul) >> "man's second chance was brought about by Christ's sinless birth", the Virgin's immaculate conception, and Mary conceived by St. Anne who had been barren, "just as a flourishing branch from the Tree of Life was grafted on to the dried Tree of Knowledge" 61
- Painting almost certainly commissioned by someone who was a member of the confraternity, along w/ the most powerful men of Philip's court, would have known about his vision & also the direct allusion to Ezekiel 12:24 "And all the trees of the country shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree: and have dried up the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish" 62
- Tree motif/iconography reflects the legends about Philip and Ezekiel, but Christus composition is unique. 62
- The composition is probably related to the confraternity and based on the medallions of the Madonna of the Dry Tree, none of which survive. 63
- Upton doubts Pieter Claeissens the Younger's triptych commissioned for the confraternity is based on a prototype of Christus's version, as Grete Ring thought, because of the stark differences in iconography (maybe come back to this), re Old Testament vs. New Testament. 63
- Madonna & child w/ tree seen in Christus's Nativity - seems to be an iconography Christus likes 64
- Upton believes, to be the origin of Christus's iconography. He thinks the painting is uniquely "Christus's own invention" 64
- 15 "A"s correspond to Ave Maria, to the prayers of the Rosary & to Marys five joyful, five glorious & five Sorrowful mysteries Rosary#Mysteries of the Rosary 64
van der Velden
[edit]- "figures are strongly lit" 89
- Pieter Claeissens the Younger's 1620 triptych Our Lady of the Dry Tree (1620) "provides the key" to identifying Christus's painting. Claeyssens' altarpiece has side panels w/ Moses & burning bush, and Gideon and the Golden Fleece. Claeyssens commission contract indicates the biblical narratives on the two panels were meant to represent Mary's "immaculate virginal purity" or Virgin Birth. 89
- The "Fleece and Burning bush were well known prefigurations" of Virgin birth, but van der Velden says that Claeyssens' iconography is not a direct reference to Immaculate conception which by then was the "object of the confraternity's devotion". 90
- Van der Velden explains that it was widely believed the core of the belief of the confraternity was the Immaculate conception, but that in reality "the confraternity of Our Lady of the Dry Tree was not established in support of the doctrine, nor was it devoted to its propagation". 91
- Christus's painting based on Ezekiel - & Deguileville's 1330 allegory = "metaphorically as an act of God, who grafted a branch from the Tree of Life onto a barren trunk". Also St Anne?? 92
- Ainsworth says a direct translation of Deguileville's allegory - van der Velden not sure 92
- Panofsky says directly from Ezekiel and the tree made to live w/ a graft 93-4
- Might mean "far reaching heroic legend of regeneration" (Upton) or even Philip's idea for a new Jerusalem or crusade 94
- Van der Velden rejects all these theories and argues (in the next 16 pages) the confraternity was based on an image of Mary "suspended in a dry - meaning a dead- tree when it first manifested its miraculous potency". The miracle tree was the reason for establishing the confraternity he says, and after 1396 the img of Mary removed from the image and moved into the the chapel. He thinks the painting is a reproduction of a (statue??) 94
- The "forked tree is the distinguishing characteristic of the image" 94
- Marian confraternities generally venerated a specific Marian image; the confraternities in Bruges less studied than those in Ghent, but the Dry Tree seems to be typical. 96
- Archival records confirm the confraternity had a statue on the altar. 97
- 1469 contract w/ Franciscan's renegotiated (Christus was a signatory) w/ list of 'gifts'. Only God gave miracles but "they manifested themselves through particular agents, usually a shrine or a cult image". 97
- Expiatory rites performed in front the image of Our Lady of the Dry tree 97
- Our Lady of the Oak in Meerveldhoven venerated from 13th cent to present. Original oak cut down in 1648 - now there's a tree in the chapel 98
- Re Our Lady of the Dry Tree confraternity in Ghent & its traditions 99
- Van der Velden mentions that Christus' tree has been compared to the crown of thorns, but it's clearly a tree 99
- Often chapels were established in places where a tree held an image of Mary (a few pages about this w/ examples) 102
- Small trees served as altar ornaments; Bruges Dry Tree confrat. mentions two small silver trees in its inventory - one used as an Aspergillum 104
- Our Lady on the Stock >> come back to this. (Try to find the image). Original tree became attributes "denoting the all-important link between a specific image and its particular provenance, lots of examples. 106
- Van der Velden believes Christus's painting is faithful depiction of the tree and an accurate reproduction of the placement of the Virgin's image. 108
- He believes that painting was commissioned as a devotional image & meant to accurately convey the cult image of the Lady of the Dry Tree 109
- He believes the confraternity venerated a cult image, as was common, and that the "iconography is an explicit and unequivocal testimony to her cult" 109