What is the story behind the Merode Altarpiece?
Taking its name from the aristocratic Merode family of Belgium who owned it during the nineteenth century, this masterpiece of Christian art from the early Northern Renaissance consists of three panel paintings, and depicts the moment when the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she has been chosen by …
What is Joseph making in the Merode Altarpiece?
He’s making mousetraps. Many people think this refers to a line written by Saint Augustine that compares the coming of Christ to setting a mousetrap for the Devil. Saint Joseph making mousetraps in the right panel of the altarpiece. The donors of the Merode Altarpiece appear in the left panel.
Who made the Annunciation Triptych?
Robert Campin
Mérode Altarpiece/Artists
Robert Campinca. 1427-32 The Annunciation Triptych displays the hallmarks of the emergent Early Netherlandish style. A fascination with the natural world dominates. The smallest details are meticulously worked to reflect reality on a two-dimensional plane.
Where was the Merode Altarpiece used?
New York City
The Mérode Altarpiece (or Annunciation Triptych) is an oil on oak panel triptych, now in The Cloisters, in New York City. It is unsigned and undated, but attributed to Early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin and an assistant.
Where was mérode altarpiece painted?
The first thing you’ll notice about the Merode Altarpiece (located in New York City in the Cloisters, part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) is that it is not one painting, but three connected paintings, in this case measuring four feet across by two feet high.
When did Robert Campin paint the Merode Altarpiece?
Robert Campin and workshop, The Merode Altarpiece, oil on oak, c 1425-30, Early Netherlandish painting (14.8) Robert Campin was an early pioneer of the naturalistic influences in northern Europe which has been applied in detail later in the renaissance period.
Where is the Merode Altarpiece in New York?
The Mérode Altarpiece (or Annunciation Triptych) is an oil on oak panel triptych, now in The Cloisters, in New York City.
How did Campin describe the design of the Merode?
He describes the Mérode as “incoherent in design”, lacking Campin’s usual trait of spatial continuity, as found in the Seilern Triptych. The open sky as seen through the central panel windows is incongruous in point of view with the street scene in the donor panel.
When was the central panel of the Merode made?
The central panel was completed after 1422, likely between 1425 and 1428, it is thought by a member of Campin’s workshop. An earlier version, now in Brussels, may be Campin’s original panel.
