Painting #103 - International Gothic

International Gothic Styles

International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe.

Wilton Diptych
- unknown artist
- tempera on wood (each 46 x 29 cm) c.1395-1399
- National Gallery (London)

* so named because the diptych was previously hanged in Wilton House (Wiltshire, England)

LEFT panel:-
* Richard II (1367-1377-1399) of England kneels
* Edmund I (921-939-946) holds an arrow
* Edward the Conqueror (c.1004-1042-1066) holds a ring
* John the Baptist holds a little lamp (representing Christ)

RIGHT panel:-
* Child Christ, giving blessing, is hand-held by Holy Mother and surrounded by 11 angels each with a white stag breast-pin, which Richard II adopted as his heraldic emblem.

Adoration of the Magi
- Gentile da Fabriano (1370-1427, Italian)
- tempera on panel (300 × 282 cm) 1423
- Uffizi Gallery (Florence) 

TOP:
"The frame has three cusps with tondoes/圓形浮雕或畫 portraying: Christ Blessing (C); and the Annunciation from Archangel Gabriel (L) to Madonna (R).

MIDDLE:
"The panel portrays the path of the three Magi, in several scenes which start from the upper left corner (the voyage and the entrance into Bethlehem) and continue clockwise, to the larger meeting with the Virgin Mary and the newborn Jesus which occupies the lowest part of the picture.

BOTTOM:
"The predella has three rectangular paintings with scenes of Jesus' childhood:
(L) the Nativity

(C) the Flight into Egypt

and
(R) the Presentation at the Temple (its original now at the Louvre)."

Pisanello

(c.1380/1395 – c.1450/1455, Italian)

The Virgin and Child with Saints
- Pisanello (1395-1455, Italian)
- tempera on poplar (47 x 29 cm) 1435-41
- National Gallery (London)

Saint Anthony Abbot (L) rings his bell and glowers at Saint George (R), who is in armour and a stylish straw hat, with a slain dragon at his feet.

Saint George, England's Patron Saint,
in retrospective,
had a red cross as his coat of arms.

The red cross of Saint George represents 
England (and Wales) in the Union Jack.

Saint Anthony the Abbot (250/251-356/357, a Christian monk from Egypt) is the patron Saint of the pets, livestock, of the farmer and related and/or derivatives work (such as butchers, bakers, grocers, basket makers, shearers, etc.), of the gravediggers, fire, and skin diseases. In the past, many infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases, were referred to as St. Anthony's fire.
        Also considered the first of the abbots and founder and pioneer of the Christian monastic asceticism.

Portrait of a Princess
- Pisanello
- tempera on panel (43 × 30 cm) c.1435-45
- Louvre (Paris)

"The dead man before God"
in 《Grandes heures de Rohan》
- anonymous illuminator (nicknamed Rohan Master)
- tempera (27 x 19 cm) c.1418-1425
- Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris)  

The dead's last prayer is written in Latin on a white ribbon, "In your hands, oh Lord, I commend my spirit."

A demon attempts to steal his soul (in the form of a naked youngster), but is attacked by St Michael the Archangel, supported by an ionconspicuous army of angels.

God, with an orb in his left hand and a sword in his right, replies in French, "For your sins you will do penance and on the day of judgment you will be with me."

Black Death
took the lives of one-third European populace, peaking from 1347 to 1351.

Grandes Heures de Rohan
(The Grand Hours of Rohan; commonly known as The Rohan Hours) is an illuminated manuscript book of hours, in the Gothic style. It contains the usual offices, prayers and litanies in Latin, along with supplemental texts

The Meeting of St. Anthony and St. Paul
- Stefano di Giovanni (aka il Sassetta, 1392–1450, Italian)
   - tempera on wood (48 x 35 cm) c.1440
- National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

Saint Anthony, in his 90s and after a dream, abandons his hermitage and seeks Saint Paul, aged 113. After blessing and christening a centaur along his way, he meets Saint Paul. They both drop their walking sticks and caress each other.

Source: Wikipedia