Dieric Bouts, also spelled
Dirk,
Dierick and
Dirck (born circa 1410/1420, died 1475) was an Early Netherlandish painter.
According to Karel van Mander in his
Het Schilderboeck of 1604, Bouts was born in
Haarlem', in the past usually Harlem in English, is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is also the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic.Haarlem had a total population 148...
and was mainly active in
LeuvenLeuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium. It is located about 30 kilometers east of Brussels, with as other neighbouring cities Mechelen, Aarschot, Tienen, and Wavre.The township comprises the historical city of Leuven and the former municipalities of...
(Louvain), where he was city painter from 1468. Van Mander confused the issue by writing biographies of both "Dieric of Haarlem" and "Dieric of Leuven," although he was referring to the same artist. The similarity of their last names also led to the confusion of Bouts with Hubrecht Stuerbout, a prominent sculptor in Leuven. Very little is actually known about Bouts' early life, but he was greatly influenced by
Jan van EyckJan van Eyck or Johannes de Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
and by Rogier van der Weyden, under whom he may have studied. He is first documented in Leuven in 1457 and worked there until his death in 1475.
Bouts was among the first northern painters to demonstrate the use of a single
vanishing pointA vanishing point is a point in a perspective drawing to which parallel lines of objects appear to converge. The number and placement of the vanishing points determines which perspective technique is being used...
(as illustrated in his
Last Supper). His work has a certain primitive stiffness of drawing, but his pictures are highly expressive, well designed and rich in colour.
Early works (before 1464)
Bouts' earliest work is the
Infancy Triptych in the Prado (Madrid), dated to about 1445. The
Deposition Altarpiece in Granada (Capilla Real) probably also dates to this period, around 1450-60. A dismembered canvas altarpiece—now in the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (Brussels)
http://193.190.214.109/webopac/List.csp?Profile=Default&OpacLanguage=dut&SearchMethod=Find_1&SearchTerm1=8181&RequestId=438217_4&WebAction=NewSearch&Database=2&PageType=Start&Index1=Index32&NumberToRetrieve=10&WebPageNr=1&SearchT1=8181, the
J. Paul Getty MuseumThe J. Paul Getty Museum, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, is an art museum. It has two locations, one at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California and one at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California...
(Los Angeles)
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=873&handle=li, National Gallery (London)
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/largeImage?workNumber=NG664&collectionPublisherSection=work, Norton Simon Museum (Pasadena)
http://www.nortonsimon.org/collections/highlights.asp?period=14H&resultnum=5, and a Swiss private collection—with the same dimensions as the
Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament may belong to this period. The Louvre
Lamentation (Pietà) is another early work.
Documented works: the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament (1464-1468) and Justice Panels (1470-1475)
The
Last Supper is the central panel of
Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament, commissioned from Bouts by the Leuven Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament in 1464. All of the central room's
orthogonals (lines imagined to be behind and perpendicular to the picture plane that converge at a vanishing point) lead to a single vanishing point in the center of the mantelpiece above Christ's head. However the small side room has its own vanishing point, and neither it nor the vanishing point of the main room falls on the horizon of the landscape seen through the windows. The
Last Supper is the second dated work (after Petrus Christus'
Virgin and Child Enthroned with St. Jerome and St. Francis in Frankfurt, dated 1457) to display an understanding of Italian
linear perspectivePerspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is perceived by the eye...
.
Scholars also have noted that Bouts's
Last Supper was the first
FlemishFlemish painting flourished from the early 15th century until the 17th century. Flanders delivered the leading painters in Northern Europe and attracted many promising young painters from neighbouring countries...
panel paintingA panel painting is a painting on a panel made of wood, either a single piece, or a number of pieces joined together. Until canvas became the more popular support medium in the 16th century, it was the normal form of support for a painting not on a wall or on vellum, which was used for...
to depict the
Last SupperIn the Christian Gospels, the Last Supper was the last meal Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles and disciples before his death...
. In this central panel, Bouts did not focus on the biblical narrative itself but instead presented Christ in the role of a priest performing the consecration of the Eucharistic wafer from the Catholic Mass. This contrasts strongly with other Last Supper depictions, which often focused on
JudasJudas Iscariot, "Yehuda" ' was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve original Apostles of Jesus. Among the twelve, he was apparently designated to keep account of the "money bag" Judas Iscariot, "Yehuda" ' was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve original Apostles of...
's betrayal or on Christ's comforting of John. Bouts also added to the complexity of this image by including four servants (two in the window and two standing), all dressed in Flemish attire. Although once identified as the artist himself and his two sons, these servants are most likely portraits of the confraternity's members responsible for commissioning the altarpiece. The
Last Supper was the central part of the
altarpieceAn altarpiece is a picture or relief representing a religious subject and suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church. The altarpiece is often made up of two or more separate panels created using a technique known as panel painting. It is then called a diptych, triptych or polyptych for two,...
in the
St. Peter's Church, LeuvenSaint Peter's Church of Leuven, Belgium, is situated on the city's Grote Markt , right across the ornate Town Hall...
.
The
Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament has four additional panels, two on each side. Because these were taken to the museums in Berlin and Munich in the 19th century, the reconstruction of the original altarpiece has been difficult. Today it is thought that the panel with Abraham and Melchizedek is above the Passover Feast on the left wing, while the Gathering of the Manna is above Elijiah and the Angel on the right wing. All of these are
typologicalTypology in Christian theology and Biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. Events in the Old Testament are seen as pre-figuring events or aspects of Christ in the New Testament, and, in the fullest version of the theory, that is...
precursors to the Last Supper in the central panel.
After attaining the rank of city painter of Leuven in 1468, Bouts received a commission to paint two more works for the
Town HallThe Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium, is a landmark building on that city's Grote Markt square, across from the monumental St. Peter's Church...
. The first was an altarpiece of the
Last Judgment (1468-70), which exists today only in the two wings with the
Road to Paradise and the
Fall of the Damned in the
Musée des Beaux-Arts, LilleThe Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille is one of the largest museums in France, and the largest French museum outside of Paris....
(France), and a fragmentary
Bust of Christ from the central panel in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. After this, he turned to the larger commission for the
Justice Panelshttp://193.190.214.109/webopac/List.csp?Profile=Default&OpacLanguage=dut&SearchMethod=Find_1&SearchTerm1=1447&RequestId=438217_15&WebAction=NewSearch&Database=2&PageType=Start&Index1=Index32&NumberToRetrieve=10&WebPageNr=1&SearchT1=1447 (1470-75), which occupied him until his death in 1475. He completed one panel and began a second, both depicting the life of the 11th-century Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. These pieces can now be seen in the Brussels museum. The remaining two Justice Panels were never completed.
Devotional panels and portraits
Many of Bouts' authentic works are small devotional panels, usually of the Virgin and Child. An early example is the
Davis Madonna in New York (
Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, known colloquially as The Met, is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, USA. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial...
), excellent copies of which exist in the
BargelloThe Bargello, also known as the Bargello Palace or Palazzo del Popolo is a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence, Italy.-Terminology:...
in Florence and the
Fine Arts Museums of San FranciscoThe Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco and one of the largest art museums in California.-External...
. This composition follows the formula of the miraculous icon of Notre-Dame-des-Grâces, which was installed in the cathedral of Cambrai (France) in 1454. The
Salting Madonna in the National Gallery (London) is the largest and most ambitious of these Marian pictures. In the realm of portraiture, Bouts expanded upon the tradition established by
Robert CampinRobert Campin , now usually identified with the artist known as the Master of Flémalle, is usually considered the first great master of Early Netherlandish painting...
,
Jan van EyckJan van Eyck or Johannes de Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
, Rogier van der Weyden, and
Petrus ChristusPetrus Christus was an Early Netherlandish painter active in Bruges from 1444.- Introduction :Christus was born in Baarle-Hertog, near Antwerp, Belgium. Long considered a student of and successor to Jan van Eyck, his paintings have sometimes been confused with those of Van Eyck...
. His dated 1462
Portrait of a Man in the National Gallery (London) is the first instance of a sitter shown in three-quarter view before a discernible background with a glimpse of the landscape out the window. Also widely attributed to Bouts is the
Portrait of a Man in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), which resembles some of the figures in the artist's late Justice Panels of 1470-75. Other portraits associated with Bouts, such as those in Washington (
National Gallery of ArtThe National Gallery of Art is a national art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W. Mellon plus major art works donated by Lessing J...
) and Antwerp (Royal Museum of Fine Arts), are more problematic.
The Munich problem(s)
Two Boutsian works in the
Alte Pinakothekthumb|250px|Alte Pinakothek buildingThe Alte Pinakothek is an art museum situated in the Kunstareal in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries of the world housing one of the most famous collections of old master paintings...
in
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
have perplexed art historians. One is the so-called
Pearl of Brabant Triptych, which writers as early as 1902 tried to separate from Bouts' authentic works. Recent research seems to refute this attempt. The other is a pair of panels from an altarpiece depicting the Passion — respectively showing the
Betrayal of Christ and the
Resurrection. For a long time these were considered some of Bouts' earliest works, but dendrochronological evidence now places them around the time of his death in 1475. Schone's 1938 invention of a "Master of the Munich Betrayal" is a more appropriate attribution.
Other works
The
Last Supper and Justice Panels are the only works known to be definitely done by Bouts. The remaining panels from the
Last Judgment Altarpiece (datable to 1468-70) and the
Martyrdom of St. Erasmus Triptych (before 1466) are also fairly secure attributions. Aside from these, a number of other paintings have been attributed to him, including:
- in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
- a Christ in the House of Simon
- a Nativity fragment with the Virgin at Prayer (see Paris below)
- in the Groeningemuseum
The Groeningemuseum is a municipal museum of Bruges, Belgium.It houses a comprehensive survey of six centuries of Flemish and Belgian painting, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers...
, BrugesBruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
- a triptych of the Martyrdom of St. Hippolytus
- in the Capilla Real, Granada
- a Virgin Enthroned with Four Angels
- in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon
- in the National Gallery, London
The National Gallery in London, founded in 1824, houses a rich collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900 in its home on Trafalgar Square...
- in the Museu de Arte Sacra do Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
- in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich
- in the Louvre
The Musée du Louvre or officially the Grand Louvre — in English, the Louvre Museum or Great Louvre, or simply the Louvre — is the largest national museum of France, the most visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of Paris, located on the Right Bank of the...
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
- in the Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, known locally and colloquially as "The Art Museum", is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the...
- in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
The Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is the main art museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The museum began in 1847 with the collection of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans . In 1958 the collection of businessman Daniël George van Beuningen was added to the museum...
RotterdamRotterdam ; city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the country, with a population of 584,046 as of January 2007...
- in the National Gallery of Art, Washington
Dieric the Younger and Aelbrecht
Bouts was married twice and had four children. His two daughters went to convents, and his two sons became painters who carried the Bouts workshop into the mid-16th century. Little is known of the elder son, Dieric the Younger, although he appears to have continued in his father's style until his early death in 1491. The younger brother,
Aelbrecht (or Albert)Aelbrecht Bouts was a Netherlandish painter. His first name is sometimes spelled ‘Albert’, ‘Aelbert’ or ‘Albrecht’. He was born into a family of painters. Aelbrecht’s father was Dieric Bouts the Elder , and his brother was Dieric Bouts the Younger . Jan Bouts Aelbrecht Bouts ( 1450s, Leuven -...
, did likewise, but in a style that is unmistakably his own. His distinctive work propelled Boutsian imagery into the 16th century.
External links