Altar of Merode

Previously, the New York triptych was considered one of the earliest works of Rogier van der Weyden ^[2] . Currently, he belongs to the group of paintings associated with the Flemish master , usually identified with Robert Kampen ^[4] . There is another version of the central panel of the Annunciation, now located in Brussels, earlier and much worse preserved ^[5] , which may also belong to Kampen’s brush ^[6] .

An examination of the picture confirmed that the triptych has several authors. The wood of the central panel and the wings is noticeably different, while the position of the hinges indicates that the picture was not originally conceived as part of the triptych. Probably, it is a copy of Kampen's earlier work, and the side flaps were ordered by the donor later, presumably with the aim of using the painting as an altar , for private prayers ^[6] . The picture was processed - a family of donors was painted on top of the landscape, the window behind the Virgin was originally filled with a golden background ^[7] , small billboards on the window are also a later addition ^[8] .

Scottish art historian Lorne Campbell denies that the entire triptych was written by the Flemish master and, therefore, Robert Kampen, describing the composition of the picture as incoherent, devoid of the spatial integrity that is characteristic of other Kampen works. It is noted that the sky visible in the window on the central panel is incompatible with the background of the side flaps, and the perspective in the picture is far from satisfactory. In general, Campbell estimates the side flaps as ordinary, artificially added at the will of the donor, with caution attributing the central panel to the Flemish master ^[5] .

The triptych is one of the first examples of the depiction of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary in the petty-bourgeois North European interior ^[8] , possibly in the dining room. The main innovation of Kampen is the image of a Madonna reading with her hair loose in a domestic setting, which was repeatedly used later (for example, in Roger van der Weyden's Reading Madonna) ^[9] . The scene, with the dominant gray color of the stucco, produces a contrast effect between the warm red robes of the Virgin and the pale blue shades of the vestments of the archangel Gabriel ^[10] .

The picture captures the moment when the resting Mary in a red dress (instead of the more common blue one), absorbed in reading the chronicle , still does not notice the presence of the archangel Gabriel ^[10] . The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is missing in the picture, which is extremely unusual for medieval images of the Annunciation. Perhaps he is represented in the smoke of an extinct candle on the table, because according to some theologians of the late Middle Ages, the Holy Spirit descended to the apostles in the “breath of wind” ^[11] . Baby Jesus with a cross in his hands flies to Mary in the sunshine from the window on the left, foreshadowing the Immaculate Conception ^[12] .

A white lily in a Tuscan clay jug ^[8] on the table together with a white ocher towel symbolizes the virginity and purity of the Virgin Mary. Mysterious letters from the Latin and Hebrew languages ​​in the jug are interpreted by some art historians as the artist’s signature ^[11] . On a green velvet bag lies an open illuminated manuscript with several tattered pages, which indicates its frequent reading ^[11] . It was assumed that it symbolizes the idea of ​​the Cartesian Ludolf Saxon about the early solitary life of the Virgin Mary with the Holy Scriptures as the only companion ^[13] .

The altar painting was commissioned either by the dealer Jan Engelbrecht or the Cologne merchant Peter Engelbrecht ^{[14] [15]} , identified by the family emblems on the stained glass window of the central panel ^[6] . The donor and his wife are depicted on the left wing of the triptych kneeling and watching the Divine event through the open door, which is absent, however, on the central panel. Perhaps it is understood that the scene takes place in the house of the donor himself: the returning owner saw the Annunciation in the depths of his house and addresses the Virgin with a prayer for creating her own family ^[16] . The door leading to the room and occupying a substantial part of the sash is wide open, which is somewhat immodest even by the standards of the mid-15th century; it is possible that it has a purely symbolic character and means that donors have access to the gates of paradise ^[17] . Behind the donors by the wall, a man in a smart suit ^[18] is visible, presumably their servant, who is also a later addition to another artist. Next to it is a courtyard exit leading onto a finely detailed street.

The right wing depicts St. Joseph with carpentry tools working on a mousetrap. It is noteworthy that Mary and Joseph, who were not married at the time of the Annunciation, apparently lived together in the same house. The meaning of the saint in the triptych can be interpreted as the need to protect the central panel from the devil ^[19] , in accordance with the words from the Book of the prophet Isaiah against the rudeness and vanity of the Assyrian king ^[20] : “ Does the poleax magnify before the one who cuts it? Is the saw proud of the one who moves it? It is as if the rod is rebelling against the one who lifts it; as if a stick rises on someone who is not a tree! » Is. 10:15 ^[20] . The mousetrap in this interpretation is intended for the devil, the bait of which is the flesh of Christ - this metaphor was repeatedly used by St. Augustine ^[21] . Outside the window of Joseph’s room, another mousetrap is visible against the backdrop of the city landscape with the spiers of two Liege churches: Saint-Pierre and Saint-Croix.

Relatively small boards, almost completely painted with oil, are well preserved thanks to the use of advanced technology at that time ^[8] . The serene atmosphere of the scene is achieved due to the dominance of pale, matte, red and blue shades. Increased attention to detail was characteristic of miniatures of that time, an example of which can be seen in the opened illuminated manuscript on the central panel ^[8] . The image perspective has not been worked out enough - the angle of view on the stage is somewhat overestimated, Virgo and the archangel Gabriel seem to hover in the air next to the improbably depicted table, and the donor’s wife with great difficulty fits into the space intended for her ^[22] .

The iconography of the triptych contains complex religious symbolism, although its exact meaning remains the subject of debate. Meyer Shapiro was the first to study the iconography of the painting, interpreting the mousetrap ^[23] , and Erwin Panofsky developed an analysis of other symbols, down to the details of furniture and accessories. A number of new elements in the triptych appear later in the Annunciation by other artists.

The symbolism of the elements of the central panel relates mainly directly to the Annunciation and the sacrament of the Eucharist ^[24] . Maria, sitting on the floor, symbolizes humility, a book with a scroll on the table - the Old and New Testaments , lions on the armrests of the benches - the throne of the Wisdom of Solomon (a detail found in many other paintings, both religious and secular, for example, on “ Portrait of the Four Arnolfini »), Hygiene items in the background are the washing of the priest’s hands during the Mass , and the laver itself is both the purity of the Virgin and the purification during the Christian baptismal ceremony ^[25] . Sixteen corners of a table symbolizing the altar may indicate the number of biblical prophets ^[26] .

The early history of the triptych remains unknown. From 1820 to 1849 it belonged to the aristocratic Belgian families Arenberg and Merode; by the name of the latter, a modern name was assigned to him. Then the triptych for many years remained in a private collection, inaccessible to either the public or specialists. In 1956, it was purchased at the expense of John Rockefeller Jr. , which was a significant event in the history of American accumulation of objects of art ^[27] , and has since been stored in the Cloisters Museum.

• Ainsworth, Maryan. "Intentional Alterations of Early Netherlandish Paintings". Metropolitan Museum Journal . 2005, volume 40, 51-65
• Ainsworth, Maryan. "Religious Painting from 1420 to 1500". Maryan Ainsworth, et al. (eds.), From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York: Metropolitan Museum, 1998. ISBN 0-87099-870-6
• Campbell, Lorne. The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings . London: National Gallery, 1998. ISBN 978-1-85709-171-7
• Campbell, Lorne. „Robert Campin, the Master of Flémalle and the Master of Mérode“. Burlington Magazine , volume 116, no. 860, November 1974
• Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques. „On the Cityscape of the Mérode Altarpiece“. The University of Chicago Press; Metropolitan Museum Journal , volume 11, 1976
• Davies, Martin. „Rogier van der Weyden: An Essay, with a Critical Catalog of Paintings Assigned to Him and to Robert Campin“. London: Phaidon, 1972
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• Gottlieb, Carla. „The Symbolism of the Mérode Altarpiece“. Oud Holland , volume 85, No. 2, 1970
• Hagen, Rose-Marie; Hagen, Rainer. What Great Paintings Say, Volume 2. " Cologne: Taschen, 2003. ISBN 978-3-8228-1372-0
• Harbison, Craig. "The Art of the Northern Renaissance." London: Laurence King Publishing, 1995. ISBN 1-78067-027-3
• Jacobs, Lynn. Opening Doors: The Early Netherlandish Triptych Reinterpreted . University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-271-04840-6
• Kleiner, Fred. Gardner's Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective, Volume 2 . Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2013. ISBN 978-1-133-95480-4
• McNamee, Maurice. Vested Angels: Eucharistic Allusions in Early Netherlandish Paintings . Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 1998. ISBN 978-90-429-0007-3
• Minott, Charles Ilsley. "The Theme of the Mérode Altarpiece." The Art Bulletin , volume 51, No. 3, 1969
• Lane, Barbara The Altar and the Altarpiece, Sacramental Themes in Early Netherlandish Painting . New York: Harper & Row, 1984. ISBN 0-06-430133-8
• Panofsky, Erwin . Early Netherlandish Painting . London: Harper Collins, 1971. ISBN 0-06-430002-1
• Installé, H. “The Merode-triptych. A Mnemonic Evocation of a Merchant Family that fled from Cologne and settled down in Mechelen ”( Le triptique Merode: Evocation mnémonique d'une famille de marchands colonais, réfugiée à Malines ). In: Handelingen van de Koninklijke Kring voor Oudheidkunde, Letteren en Kunst van Mechelen , No. 1, 1992
• Reuterswärd, Patrik. "New light on Robert Campin." Konsthistorisk tidskrift (Journal of Art History) , volume 67, No. 1, 1998
• Rousseau, Theodore. "The Merode Altarpiece." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin , volume 16, No. 4, 1957
• Schapiro, Meyer. "'Muscipula Diaboli', The Symbolism of the Mérode Altarpiece." The Art Bulletin , volume 27, No. 3, 1945
• Smith, Jeffrey Chipps. The Northern Renaissance . London: Phaidon Press, 2004. ISBN 0-7148-3867-5
• Thürlemann, Felix. "Robert Campin: A Monographic Study with Critical Catalog." Prestel, 2012. ISBN 978-3-7913-2778-5
• Wolff, Martha; Hand, John Oliver. Early Netherlandish painting . Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1987. ISBN 0-521-34016-0

• Painting in the catalog of the Metropolitan Museum