1400-1450 Fine Art

Nativity

Jan 1, 1400

This small panel originally belonged to a polyptych which was probably conceived as a portable altarpiece or devotional painting, as it could be folded up to a size that would fit readily into a small box or leather pouch. Other panels from the polyptych representing St Christopher and the Resurrection are also in the same museum.

Crucifixion

Jan 1, 1400

Four panels (two painted on both sides)of a small quadriptych are today divided between the Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp and the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore. The altarpiece, when reassembled, juxtaposes to panels of the Infancy with two of the Passion (Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection), and, on the exterior, two panels related to Baptism and water (Baptism of Christ and St Christopher).

Resurrection

Jan 1, 1400

This small panel originally belonged to a polyptych which was probably conceived as a portable altarpiece or devotional painting, as it could be folded up to a size that would fit readily into a small box or leather pouch. Other panels from the polyptych representing St Christopher and the Nativity are also in the same museum.

St Ursula Shrine

Jan 1, 1400

This small wooden relic-chest contained the relics of St Ursula until 21 October 1489 when, during a ceremony in the choir of the St John's Hospital chapel, they were transferred to the new shrine executed by Hans Memling.

Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti

Jan 1, 1401

Ghiberti first became famous when as a 23 year-old he won the 1401 competition for the first set of bronze doors; Brunelleschi was the runner up. The original plan was for the doors to depict scenes from the Old Testament, and the trial piece was the sacrifice of Isaac, which survives. However, the plan was changed to depict scenes from the New Testament, instead.

Marble David by Donatello

Jan 1, 1408

Donatello was commissioned to carve a statue of David in 1408. The commission came from the operai of the cathedral of Florence, who intended to decorate the buttresses of the tribunes of the cathedral with 12 statues of prophets.

Saint Mark by Donatello

Jan 1, 1411

The statue of St. Mark was commissioned by the linen guild, one of the poorer guilds in Florence whose patron was St. Mark. They decided to hire the sculptor Donatello for the commission, who created a larger than life-size work (it is 7’9” tall). The work itself was placed into a niche that was already in existence in the building called Orsanmichele, and probably because this meant only the front would be visible, the back side of the statue was not completely carved.

Louis II of Anjou

Jan 1, 1415

The unknopwn painter of this portrait belonged to the circle of the Limbourg brothers.

Christ on the Cross with Mary as Intercessor and a Donor

Jan 1, 1420

In the early part of the fifteenth century, a school of painting arose in Tournai independently of the Van Eycks, whose spectacular new style seems to have flourished in a family context. The new school achieved a highly developed anatomical and physiognomic representation of the human figure. Robert Campin was the central figure in Tournai, heading a studio there between around 1415 and 1432. Despite its innovations, a number of often archaic procedures continued to be applied in this environme

Madonna and Child with St. Anne by Masolino da Panicale

Jan 1, 1425

Masolino da Panicale (common name Tommaso di Cristoforo Fini, born around 1383 in Panicale, died 1440 in Florence) was an Italian painter. He is commonly known as Masolino. Among his best-known works are frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel, and a madonna called Madonna and Child with St. Anne. He painted the madonna together with another artist, commonly known as Masaccio.

Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Masaccio

Jan 1, 1426

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, depicts a distressed Adam and Eve, chased from the garden by a threatening angel. Adam covers his entire face to express his shame, while Eve's shame requires her to cover certain areas of her body. The fresco had a huge influence on Michelangelo.

Holy Trinity by Masaccio

Jan 1, 1427

Around 1427 Masaccio won a prestigious commission to produce a Holy Trinity for the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. No contemporary documents record the patron of the fresco, but recently references to ownership of a tomb at the foot of the fresco have been found in the records of the Berti family of the Santa Maria Novella Quarter of Florence; this working-class family expressed a long-standing devotion to the Trinity, and may well have commissioned Masaccio's painting.

Virgin with Child and Saints by Fra Angelico

Jan 1, 1428

The altarpiece is among the earliest known works by Fra Angelico. It was originally commissioned for the high altar in the convent's church, but was later moved to a side altar where it is currently visible.

Crucifixtion

Jan 1, 1435

Attention to detail and drama are the two elements which stand out most in this panel by an anonymous artist working in Naples in the mid-15th century.

Bronze David by Donatello

Jan 1, 1440

Donatello's bronze statue of David (circa 1440s) is famous as the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after defeating the giant. The youth is completely naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, bearing the sword of Goliath.

Weyden Madonna by

Jan 1, 1440

Rogier van der Weyden or Roger de la Pasture (1399 or 1400 – 18 June 1464) was an early Flemish painter. His surviving works are mainly religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. Due to the loss of archives in 1695 and again in 1940, there are few certain facts of van der Weyden's life.

Edelheere Altarpiece

Dec 1, 1443

In the wings showing portraits of the family, however, he was able to give his own abilities free rein, to better effect. The donors are shown being recommended by their patron saints, on the left St James the Greater, on the right St Elisabeth of Thuringia.

Dome of the Cathedral by Filippo Brunelleshi

Jan 1, 1446

The dome, the lantern (built 1446–ca.1461) and the exedra (built 1439-1445) would occupy most of Brunelleschi’s life. Brunelleschi's success can be attributed to no small degree to his technical and mathematical genius.

St. Peter Consecrates St. Laurence as Deacon by Fra Angelico

Jan 1, 1449

Found in the Niccoline Chapel (Italian: Cappella Niccolina) the chapel itself is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. It is especially notable for its fresco paintings by Fra Angelico (1447–1451) and his assistants, who may have executed much of the actual work.

Marco Barbarigo

Jan 1, 1450

This painting by a follower of Jan van Eyck portrays the future Venetian doge Marco Barbarigo (c. 1413 - 1486), son of Francesco Barbarigo, Procurator of San Marco. It was painted when the sitter was acting as Venetian consul to the English court.