Episode 13 - A Dark Mirror
Workshop of Robert Campin, Annunciation Triptych (Merode Altarpiece), ca. 1427–32
Oil on oak, overall (open): 25 3/8 x 46 3/8 in. (64.5 x 117.8 cm)
The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Simone Martini, Annunciation, 1333
Tempera and gold on wood, 120 x 104 in (305 x 265 cm)
Uffizi Galleries, Florence
Simone Martini, Saint Louis of Toulouse, c. 1317
Tempera, gold, and gems (lost) on panel, 121.6 × 74.2 in (309 x 188.5 cm)
Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples
Detail of morse in wood, glass and tempera paint
photo: Claire Jensen
Sienese, Morse with Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, mid-14th century
Gilded copper, silver, translucent enamel, parchment, glass gems
5 1/16 x 5 1/16 x 1 9/16 in. (12.9 x 12.9 x 4 cm)
Attributed to Master Heinrich of Constance, The Visitation, ca. 1310–20
Walnut, paint, gilding, rock-crystal cabochons inset in gilt-silver mounts
23 1/4 × 11 7/8 × 7 1/4 in. (59.1 × 30.2 × 18.4 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Robert Campin (The Master of Flémalle), Christ and the Virgin, c. 1427-1432
Oil and gold on panel, 11 ¼ x 17 15/16 in (28.6 x 45.6 cm)
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
Simone Martini, Madonna and Child, ca. 1326
Tempera on wood, gold ground, 23 1/8 x 15 1/2 in (58.7 x 39.4 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Simone Martini, Virgin and Child with Saints Helen, Paul, Dominic, Stephen (?),
and a Dominican Nun, c 1325
Tempera and tooled gold on panel, 13 1/8 x 10 x ¾ in (33.4 x 25.4 x 1.9 cm)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Marriage, 1434
Oil on oak, 32 14 x 23 1/2 in (82.2 x 60 cm)
National Gallery, London
German, Mirror or Light Reflector,
15th–16th century
Brass, glass, and paint on oak,
22 1/2 x 20 in (57.2 x 50.8 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Possibly workshop of Benedetto da Maiano, Tondo mirror frame, ca. 1480
Stucco squeeze, blown convex mirror, gilt, orange-brown bole, 21 7/16 × 14 3/4 in. (54.5 × 37.5 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Vertical wood grain texture
Texture of wood and paint
Black spacer between painting and frame
Unframed - detail
Texture of paint
Crack pattern and remnants of discolored varnish
Recommended Reading
Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keth Cristiansen, eds, From Van Eyck to Bruegel, Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998
Stephan Kemperdick and Jochen Sander, eds., The Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden : an exhibition organized by the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, and the Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, 2009
Claire Jensen, "Simone Martini, Saint Louis of Toulouse," in Smarthistory, September 12, 2020
https://smarthistory.org/simone-martini-saint-louis-of-toulouse/.
Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris, "Robert Campin, Christ and the Virgin," in Smarthistory, November 29, 2015
https://smarthistory.org/robert-campin-christ-and-the-virgin/.