MASSYS, Quentin

Flemish Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1465-1530 Quentin Massys, also spelled Matsys or Metsys, was born in Louvain, the son of a blacksmith. He is traditionally thought to have been trained in that craft by his father. Art in Louvain while Massys was growing up was dominated by Dirk Bouts. Massys became a member of the painters' guild in Antwerp in 1491 and died there in 1530. He represented a current of painting that flourished in Antwerp at this time of its sudden new prosperity. Erwin Panofsky (1953) described this trend, "archaism of around 1500," as "a prelude to, in fact a fact of, the Renaissance in Netherlandish painting," which prevailed in the southern Netherlands. The monumental Enthroned Madonna (Brussels), an early work by Massys, has features recalling both Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck. The central panel of Massys' imposing St. Anne Altarpiece, or the Holy Kinship (Brussels), which was commissioned for the church of St-Pierre in Louvain in 1507 and signed and dated 1509, has a prototype in the Holy Kinship of Geertgen tot Sint Jans. Even the physical types and costumes in Massys' version refer to Geertgen's. But Massys placed his rhythmically balanced figure groups in a domed, arcaded loggia that in architectural style appears to be reaching for a Renaissance vocabulary it cannot quite attain; certainly the architecture evokes a later period than that represented by the Gothic throne of the Enthroned Madonna. The calm and restraint of the St. Anne Altarpiece are replaced by heightened emotional expression in the next important painting by Massys that can be firmly dated, the Deposition triptych (Antwerp). This was commissioned in 1508 by the guild of joiners in Antwerp for their chapel in the Cathedral; Massys completed the composition in 1511. It was inspired by Rogier van der Weyden's great Deposition, which was in the church of St-Pierre in Louvain in Massys' time, and also quotes from Rogier's Entombment. Massys painted genre subjects, possibly with emblematic meaning, such as A Money Changer and His Wife, which belonged to a Netherlandish tradition that maintained its popularity right through the 17th century. In portraiture he made significant contributions. His pair of portraits of Erasmus and Petrus Aegidius, painted in 1517 for Sir Thomas More, set the pattern for representations of the scholar in his study.


       Prev  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   Next
  Prev Artist       Next Artist     

   
    

MASSYS, Quentin St Anne Altarpiece sg oil


St Anne Altarpiece sg
Painting ID::  8094
St Anne Altarpiece sg
1507-08 Oil on wood, 224,5 x 219 cm (centre), 220 x 92 cm (each wing) Mus??es Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
   
   
     

MASSYS, Quentin St Anne Altarpiece (central panel)  g oil


St Anne Altarpiece (central panel) g
Painting ID::  8095
St Anne Altarpiece (central panel) g
1507-08 Oil on wood, 224,5 x 219 cm Mus??es Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
   
   
     

MASSYS, Quentin St Anne Altarpiece (detail) rfg oil


St Anne Altarpiece (detail) rfg
Painting ID::  8096
St Anne Altarpiece (detail) rfg
1507-08 Oil on wood Mus??es Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
   
   
     

MASSYS, Quentin St Anne Altarpiece (right wing, detail)  eh oil


St Anne Altarpiece (right wing, detail) eh
Painting ID::  8097
St Anne Altarpiece (right wing, detail) eh
1507-08 Oil on wood Mus??es Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
   
   
     

MASSYS, Quentin St John Altarpiece dfh oil


St John Altarpiece dfh
Painting ID::  8098
St John Altarpiece dfh
1507-08 Oil on wood, 260 x 504 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp
   
   
     

       Prev  1  2  3  4  5  6  7   Next
Prev Artist       Next Artist     

     MASSYS, Quentin
     Flemish Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1465-1530 Quentin Massys, also spelled Matsys or Metsys, was born in Louvain, the son of a blacksmith. He is traditionally thought to have been trained in that craft by his father. Art in Louvain while Massys was growing up was dominated by Dirk Bouts. Massys became a member of the painters' guild in Antwerp in 1491 and died there in 1530. He represented a current of painting that flourished in Antwerp at this time of its sudden new prosperity. Erwin Panofsky (1953) described this trend, "archaism of around 1500," as "a prelude to, in fact a fact of, the Renaissance in Netherlandish painting," which prevailed in the southern Netherlands. The monumental Enthroned Madonna (Brussels), an early work by Massys, has features recalling both Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck. The central panel of Massys' imposing St. Anne Altarpiece, or the Holy Kinship (Brussels), which was commissioned for the church of St-Pierre in Louvain in 1507 and signed and dated 1509, has a prototype in the Holy Kinship of Geertgen tot Sint Jans. Even the physical types and costumes in Massys' version refer to Geertgen's. But Massys placed his rhythmically balanced figure groups in a domed, arcaded loggia that in architectural style appears to be reaching for a Renaissance vocabulary it cannot quite attain; certainly the architecture evokes a later period than that represented by the Gothic throne of the Enthroned Madonna. The calm and restraint of the St. Anne Altarpiece are replaced by heightened emotional expression in the next important painting by Massys that can be firmly dated, the Deposition triptych (Antwerp). This was commissioned in 1508 by the guild of joiners in Antwerp for their chapel in the Cathedral; Massys completed the composition in 1511. It was inspired by Rogier van der Weyden's great Deposition, which was in the church of St-Pierre in Louvain in Massys' time, and also quotes from Rogier's Entombment. Massys painted genre subjects, possibly with emblematic meaning, such as A Money Changer and His Wife, which belonged to a Netherlandish tradition that maintained its popularity right through the 17th century. In portraiture he made significant contributions. His pair of portraits of Erasmus and Petrus Aegidius, painted in 1517 for Sir Thomas More, set the pattern for representations of the scholar in his study.

CONTACT US
Xiamen China Wholesale Oil Painting Stretcher Bar Frame Moulding Mirror Framed Stretched Paintings