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Chapter 5 Conclusion: The Entombments in the Context of Late Medieval Sculpture
The Future Forecast: Art from the Court of Philip the Bold
While historians debate the waning of the Middle Ages, and whether the changes that occurred in medieval society c. 1500 were the result of a decline in the vitality of the culture, a socio-economic crisis, or a gradual transition to the early modern period, our query is decidedly more narrow in focus.1 Why did the sculptural representation of the Entombment of Christ have such a rela- tively short lifespan in the visual legacy of late medieval piety? The monumen- tal sculptures begin to appear in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, and, by the end of the sixteenth century, they simply had gone out of fashion. The Passion of Christ remained central to the Christian experience, yet the En- tombment as a vehicle of faith no longer seemed to answer the religious call to arms. Was there a change in liturgy that engendered this paradigm shift or sim- ply a new taste for the ornate, intricate worlds created in the Passion retables that proliferated during the late Middle Ages? This chapter will examine some of the sculpture that was produced in the regions of Burgundy and Champagne during and after the period in which the Entombments flourished and offer some final observations about the signifi- cance of the latter in their historical context. It is curious that the taste for statues of individual saints did not wane, nor did the Pietà lose any of its popu- lar appeal. Indeed, the image of the Virgin with the dead Christ on her lap seemed to supplant the representation of Christ’s Entombment. Seminal to this brief overview is the patronage of the Valois dukes and their courtship of artists of Flemish origin.2 The marriage between Philip the Bold and Margaret
1 See Donald Sullivan, “The End of the Middle Ages: Decline, Crisis, or Transformation?,” The History Teacher 14/4 (1981), 551–565. 2 The marriage of Philip the Bold and Margaret de Male of Flanders engendered a liaison between Burgundy and the art center of Ghent. See Ludovic Nys, “Art in the Court of Flanders at the Time of the Marriage of Philip the Bold and Margaret de Male,” in Art from the Court of Burgundy, 52–64; for general remarks regarding the sculpture of this region during the late medieval period, see Hervé Oursel, “Remarques sur la sculpture dans le Nord de la France à la fin du Moyen-Âge,” in Actes des Journées Internationales Claus Sluter (Septembre 1990) (Dijon: Association Claus Sluter, 1992), 233–237.
© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10.1163/9789004293144_007 150 Chapter 5 de Male of Flanders (Margaret III of Dampiere) gave the duke access upon the death of Margaret’s father to Artois, Burgundy, Rethel, Flanders, and Never.3 It is not an exaggeration to state that the majority of Philip’s court artists were from Flanders, and the art of the Chartreuse de Champmol bears the unmis- takable imprint of this imported style.4 The presence of the magisterial altarpiece by Melchior Broederlam and Jacques de Baerze (1392–1399) on Burgundian soil was a powerful catalyst for artistic change in and of itself (fig. 3).5 The paintings of Broederlam introduced a unique way of visualizing the world: in the scenes of the Annunciation, Visi- tation, Presentation in the Temple, and Flight into Egypt, the architecture si- multaneously reveals complex interior and exterior spaces, while landscapes divulge rocky paths and mountainous passes. This spatial dexterity coexists with the use of a gold background and the introduction of innovative icono- graphic details; prophets adorn the temple where the Annunciation transpires, and the Fall of Idols occurs in the background of the Flight into Egypt. The complex dollhouse architecture is reminiscent of Trecento painting, yet the realism of the landscape and faces reflects the artist’s Flemish origins.6 The two gilded wood and polychrome altarpieces by Jacques de Baerze ded- icated to the Crucifixion and Saints and Martyrs bear the initials P and M for Philip and Margaret; the second was intended for the altar of the chapterhouse of Champmol, and its painted panels no longer exist.7 The central panel of the Crucifixion triptych, also destined for Champmol, which formed the verso of Broederlam’s Infancy cycle, consists of from left to right: the Adoration of the Magi, the Crucifixion, and the Entombment (figs. 3, 71, and 72). Saints beneath
3 Richard Vaughan, Philip the Bold: The Formation of the Burgundian State (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, Ltd., 2002), 113–139. 4 For a view of the art of Flanders before and after the marriage of Philip and Margaret, see Nys, “Art in the Court of Flanders,” 52–64. See Sophie Cassagnes-Brouquet, “Artists to the Dukes of Burgundy,” and “Atelier Activity and the Status of Artists,” in Art from the Court of Burgundy, 89–93 and 282–287, respectively, for an overview of Philip’s recruited artists from Jean Malouel to Claus Sluter to Jean d’Arbois. Brabant was a leading center for the production of retables, and the dukes of Burgundy seem to have had a predilection for this style. 5 The altarpiece, now housed in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Dijon, was one of two retables commissioned for the Chartreuse de Champmol by Philip the Bold that replicated exam- ples from the abbey of Biljoke at Gand, which were in Termonde, where Jacques Baerze had his atelier. They were transported from Termonde to Champmol in 1391. See Susanna Bichler, “The Retables de Jacques de Baërze,” Actes des Journées Internationales, 23–35. 6 The Museum of Fine Arts, Dijon (Paris, Musées et Monuments de France, 1992), 31. 7 Ibid.