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Gerard David (± 1455-1523) Born in the northern Low Countries, Gerard David settled in Bruges in 1483, where his work became instrumental in the transition from the late mediaeval tradition to the modern art of painting. He was among the first to adopt elements of the Italian style. Gerard David was apparently both a talented artist and a shrewd merchant, who became a member of both the established Bruges guild and the emerging Antwerp guild. He was in charge of a highly productive artists’ studio in Bruges, where he became the major artist following the death of Memlinc, and closely followed the demand of the emerging market for art. Despite lacking a little of the originality of his illustrious predecessors, Gerard David was nevertheless an innovative artist with a dynamic instinct for space and light. He was among the first to imitate Leonardo da Vinci’s famous sfumato technique. His landscapes were no longer panoramic, becoming more ethereal and even meditative at times. Such aspects lent a air of serenity and particular charm to his paintings, which gained him acclaim as one of the major successors to the great master, Van Eyck, and made him a highly successful artist in his own lifetime. | ||
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AN 05 |
The nativity (± 1512) Christ’s birth is portrayed in a late mediaeval setting, in which the highly prominent order of angels/angelic choir rejoices in the birth of saviour. The wheat sheaf in the foreground refers to the Gospel according to St. John 6:41: ‘I am manna from heaven’.
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