Jeffrey T. Heeney
Dr. Ignacio Moreno
HA 222 A
26 February 2018
A brief history of Renaissance Art in Bruges, Belgium and two specific works by Jan van Eyck, Dieric Bouts, and Hugo van der Goes
Europe has always been a special place for me. I spent 30 years in the Air Force and was able to live and travel around Europe frequently. As a child I had always been a lover of History , and being stationed in Europe fed into those loves
Fortunately for me, those times in Europe were life changing. I was able to travel to Bruges Belgium twice, twenty years apart and was amazed on both occasions. The unmolested Architecture, and richness of Art and Culture was beyond reproach.
To get a small amount of perspective into
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In the 12th century, Bruges was proclaimed a city, but soon after the river silted up. Bruges adapted by creating ports just outside of town; and, over the land transport became prevalent.
Many Traders from all over to flocked to the city to sell their goods and to buy Flemish cloth, which was produced in various cities, such as Ghent.
In the 14th century, Bruges developed as a main warehouse for North-European cities. Several countries, such as Italy, Germany and Spain, had their own representation in Bruges, making it a truly European center where different languages could be heard constantly and where many exotic products were on
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Due to this act he is seen as the patron saint of horses. His very pale, and slim body contrast with the very bright and saturated knights, who stand out against the very steep ground. The emotionless atmosphere overcomes this cruel scene with a powerful silence. The subjects spread over the entire length of the scene and remain on the same scale thanks to the perspective. They are situated on an exaggerated slope, so that the eye placed at the top of the table remains equidistant from each of the figures; those in the foreground are seen in plunging perspective, the upper body taking on an exceptional importance. This size of the torso results from a vision effect.http://kerdonis.fr/
This ingenious arrangement, places the characters in the four corners of the composition making them easy to see, and accentuates the story of this horrible part of history and illustrates the subject's cruelty: the torture of the saint by the four horses.
The right panel shows Decius with Roman emperor Valerianus. They are often mentioned in the stories referencing Saint Hippolytus. They are often seen mocking the saint and are shown as witnesses of the martyrdom of the saint after which both are said to have insane