- Hugo van der Goes
Hugo van der Goes (
Ghent , ?c. 1440 –Oudergem , nearBrussels , 1482 or 1483) was a Flemish painter. He was, along withJan van Eyck ,Rogier van der Weyden ,Hans Memling andGerard David , one of the most important of the Early Netherlandish painters.Hugo became a member of the
painters' guild ofGhent as a master in 1467. In 1468 he was involved in the decoration of the town ofBruges in celebration of the marriage betweenCharles the Bold andMargaret of York and he provided heraldic decorations for Charles's "joyeuse entrée" to Ghent in 1469 and again in 1472. He was elected dean of the Ghent guild in 1473 or 1474.In 1475, or some years later, Hugo entered
Rooklooster , a monastery nearBrussels belonging to theWindesheim Congregation , and professed there as a "frater conversus ". He continued to paint, and remained at Rooklooster until his death in 1482 or 1483. In 1480 he was called to the town ofLeuven to evaluate the "Justice Scenes" left unfinished by the painterDieric Bouts on his death in 1475. Shortly after this, Hugo, returning with other members of his monastery from a trip to Cologne, fell into a state of suicidal gloom, declaring himself to be damned. After returning to Rooklooster, Hugo recovered from his illness, and died there. His time at Rooklooster is recorded in the chronicle of his fellow monk, Gaspar Ofhuys. A report by a German physician,Hieronymus Münzer , from 1495, according to which a painter from Ghent was driven to melancholy by the attempt to equal theGhent Altarpiece , may refer to Hugo.His most famous surviving work is the
Portinari Triptych (Uffizi ,Florence ), analtarpiece commissioned for the church of San Egidio in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova inFlorence byTommaso Portinari , the manager of the Bruges branch of theMedici Bank . The triptych arrived in Florence in 1483, apparently some years after its completion by van der Goes. The largest Netherlandish work that could be seen in Florence, it was greatly praised.Giorgio Vasari in his "Vite" of 1550 referred to it as by "Ugo d'Anversa" ("Hugo of Antwerp"). This the sole documentation for its authorship by Hugo; other works are attributed to him based on stylistic comparison with the altarpiece. [National Gallery Catalogues (new series): "The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings", Lorne Campbell, p.240, 1998, ISBN 185709171] Hugo appears to have left a large number of drawings, and either from these or the paintings themselves followers made large numbers of copies of compositions that have not survived from his own hand. [Campbell, op. & page cit] A drawing of "Jacob and Rachel" preserved atChrist Church, Oxford is thought to be a rare surviving autograph drawing.Major works
*"Fall of Man" and "Lamentation" diptych. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum
*"Deposition" diptych (on canvas). Private collector (left wing); Berlin, Gemäldegalerie (right wing)
*"Adoration of the Kings" ("Monforte Altarpiece"). Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
*"Portinari Triptych". Florence, Uffizi
*"Trinity Panels". Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland
*"Adoration of the Shepherds". Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
*"Death of the Virgin". Bruges, GroeningemuseumReferences
External links
* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/goes_hugo_van_der.html Artcyclopedia: Hugo van der Goes]
* [http://www.abcgallery.com/G/goes/goes.html Olga's gallery: Hugo van der Goes]
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