Robert Campin Biography | Oil Painting Reproductions

1375 Tournai, NED –4-26-1444 Tournai, NED

Campin, Robert

Robert Campin first appears as settled in Tournai from the archives of 1405–6, as a free master of the guild of painters, and there has been a lot of speculation about his origin and birthplace which is unknown. By 1432, however, he lost his municipal positions because of scandals, and his role in political disturbances in the city. In 1429 he was discovered liable for withholding evidence, and sentenced to go on a pilgrimage, and in 1432 was indicted for adultery and exiled for a year.

One of the first to experiment with oil-based colors.

Although indebted to contemporary masters of manuscript illumination, Robert Campin displayed greater powers of realistic observation than any other painter before him. Robert Campin was one of the first artists to explore different avenues regarding the use of oil-based colors, instead of egg-based tempera, to accomplish the brightness of color typical for this period. Campin used the new method to convey solid, rounded characters by modeling light and shade in compositions of complex perspectives.

Art historians have for quite some time tried to trace the beginnings of the Northern Renaissance, with far less evidence to go on than in Italy. For a long while, it was felt that Jan van Eyck was the first painter to make full use of the innovations clear in manuscript illumination in panel painting.

By the end of the nineteenth century, it turned out to be clear, in any case, that Jan Van Eyck was the contemporary artist who painted many works, including the Mérode Altarpiece. Dated in 1428, the altarpiece is now in the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum. It was contended that these works belong to one "Master of Flémalle", but they did not know who it was.

In the twentieth century, a few researchers recommended that the Master of Flémalle might be Robert Campin, documented as being a master painter in Tournai from 1406. This contention pivots a paper specifying two students entering his studio in 1427, Jacques Daret and Rogelet de la Pasture. The latter was likely Rogier van der Weyden. An extremely well-documented altarpiece by Daret shows striking likenesses with the works of the Master of Flémalle, as do early works by Rogelet de la Pasture. Along these lines, it is enticing to accept that both Daret and Rogier were understudies of the Master of Flémalle, aka. Robert Campin.

Art Movement History: Northern Renaissance.
Artists Influencing Robert Campin: Jacques Daret, Rogelet de la Pasture.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.

Robert Campin Hand-Painted Oil Painting Reproductions.

Robert Campin Museum Art Replicas on Canvas.

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