1000 Drawings of Genius. Victoria Charles

1390–1441), Flemish, Saint Paul, c. 1430. Pen and brown ink, point of the brush and brown ink, with purple and gold heightening, on vellum, 14.6 × 7.9 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Northern Renaissance.

      32. Fra Angelico (Guido di Pietro), c. 1395–1455, Italian, Christ on the Cross, c. 1430. Pen and brown ink, with red and yellow wash on parchment, 29.3 × 19 cm. Albertina, Vienna. Early Renaissance.

      33. Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni), c. 1374–1438, Italian, Three Standing Figures, 1435–1438. Pen and brown ink over traces of charcoal or black chalk, 30 × 22.4 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Early Renaissance.

      34. Konrad Witz, c. 1400–1445, Swiss, Virgin and Child in an Interior, date unknown. Pen, brown ink and wash, 29.1 × 20 cm. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin. Northern Renaissance.

      35. Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni), c. 1374–1438, Italian, The Virgin with Christ Child and St. John the Baptist, 1420–1430. Pen and ink on watermarked white paper, 22.4 × 14.3 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Early Renaissance.

      36. Pisanello (Antonio Pisano), c. 1395–1455, Italian, Three Monkeys in Different Postures, Sketch and Head of Another Monkey, c. 1430. Silverpoint on paper, 20.6 × 21.7 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Early Renaissance.

      37. Jan van Eyck, c. 1390–1441, Flemish, Portrait of Cardinal Niccolo Albergati, c. 1435. Silverpoint on paper, 21.2 × 18 cm. Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden. Northern Renaissance.

      JAN VAN EYCK

      (Near Maastricht, c. 1390 – Bruges, 1441)

      Little is known of the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, even the dates of their births being uncertain. Jan, as perhaps also Hubert, was for a time in the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. He was entered in the household as ‘varlet and painter’, but acted at the same time as a confidential friend, and for his services received an annual salary of two horses for his use, and a ‘varlet in livery’ to attend on him. The greater part of his life was spent in Bruges.

      Their wonderful use of colour is another reason of the fame of the van Eycks. Artists came from Italy to study their pictures, to discover what they themselves must do in order to paint so well, with such brilliance, such full and firm effect, as these two brothers. For the latter had found out the secret of working successfully with oil colours. Before their time, attempts had been made to mix colours in the medium of oil, but the oil was slow in drying, and the varnish added to remedy this had blackened the colours. The van Eycks, however, had hit upon a transparent varnish which dried quickly and without injury to the tints. Though they guarded the secret jealously, it was discovered by the Italian, Antonello da Messina, who was working in Bruges, and through him published to the world. The invention made possible the enormous development in the art of painting which ensued.

      In these two brothers the grand art of Flanders was born. Like “the sudden flowering of the aloe, after sleeping through a century of suns,” this art, rooted in the native soil, nurtured by the smaller arts of craftsmanship, reached its full ripeness and expanded into blossom. Such further development as it experienced came from Italian influence, but the distinctly Flemish art, born out of local conditions in Flanders, was already fully-grown.

      38. Pisanello (Antonio Pisano), c. 1395–1455, Italian, Castle and Landscape, 1440–1450. Sinopia. Museo di Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. Early Renaissance.

      39. Circle of Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1399–1464), Flemish, Men Shoveling Chairs, 1444–1450. Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk, 30 × 42.6 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Northern Renaissance.

      40. Paolo Uccello (Paolo di Dono), 1397–1475, Italian, Study for the Monument to John Hawkwood, c. 1436. Metalpoint and white lead on squared paper, 46.1 × 33.3 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence. Early Renaissance.

      PAOLO UCCELLO

      (Paolo di Dono)

      (Florence, 1397–1475)

      Paolo di Dono was called ‘Uccello’ because he loved birds and the Italian word for bird is uccello. As well as painting on panel and in fresco, he was also a master of mosaics, especially in Venice, and produced designs for stained glass. We can feel the influence of Donatello especially in a fresco representing the Flood and the Recession, whereas the figure in this work is reminiscent of Masaccio’s frescos of the Brancacci chapel. His perspective studies are very sophisticated, recalling the Renaissance art treatises of Piero della Francesca, Leonardo da Vinci, or Dürer. He was a major proponent of the Renaissance style. However, if his masterwork The Battle of San Romano (1438–1440) has Renaissance elements, Uccello’s gold decorations on the surface of his masterpieces are indebted to the Gothic style.

      41. Andrea Mantegna, 1430/1431-1506, Italian, Faun Attacking a Snake, 1446–1506. Pen and ink on paper, 29 × 17.2 cm. British Museum, London. Early Renaissance.

      42. Pisanello (Antonio Pisano), c. 1395–1455, Italian, Tournament, c. 1440–1450. Sinopia. Museo di Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. Early Renaissance.

      43. Andrea del Castagno (Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla), before 1419–1457, Italian, Christ in the Sepulchre with Two Angels, 1447. Sinopia. Sant’Apollonia, Florence. Early Renaissance.

      ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO

      (Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla)

      (Castagno, before 1419 – Florence, 1457)

      An Italian painter of the Florentine school, Andrea del Castagno was born in Castagno, in the district of Mugello. He followed the naturalism of Masaccio and made use of scientific perspective, gaining wide recognition for his monumental frescoes for the convent of Sant’Apollonia in Florence. These included a Last Supper and three scenes from the Passion of Christ. Another of his principle works (many of them have disappeared) was the equestrian figure of Nicola di Tolentino, in the cathedral of Florence. Castagno added to the Renaissance’s illusionism a strong expressive realism that was influenced by the sculptures of Donatello. He, in turn, would prove influential for succeding generations.

      For four centuries, Castagno’s name was burdened with the henious charge of murder. It was said that he had treacherously assasinated his colleague, Domenico Veneziano, in order to monopolise the then-recent secret of oil painting as practised in Flanders by the Van Eycks. This charge was, however, proved to be untrue, as Domenico died four years after Andrea.

      44. Pisanello (Antonio Pisano), c. 1395–1455, Italian, A Gentleman and a Lady in Court Clothes, c. 1433–1438. Silverpoint and watercolour, 27.2 × 19.3 cm. Musée Condé, Chantilly. Early Renaissance.

      45. Benozzo Gozzoli, c. 1420–1497, Italian, St. Laurent with the Virgin and Child and Two Putti, 1450–1460. Pen and brush, 22.8 × 16.2 cm. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin. Early Renaissance.

      46. Andrea