Robert Campin

Lore & Background

Campin first appears as settled in Tournai from the archives of 1405–06, as a free master of the guild of goldsmiths and painters. In 1408 he purchased the house he had been leasing since 1406 near the Tournai Cathedral. In 1410 he bought full citizenship. Records show a large number of commissions from individuals and guilds, as well as from ecclesiastical and civic authorities. Campin owned several houses, purchased city bonds and invested in mortgages. Between 1423 and 1429 the city government was dominated by the guilds; Campin was deputy dean of the guild of goldsmiths and painters in 1423–24 and 1425, and in 1427 he represented the guild on the city council. Between 1426 and 1428 he employed four apprentices: Rogelet de le Pasture, Haquin de Blandain, Jaquelotte Daret, and Willemet. After restoration of the oligarchy of full citizens, the leaders of the guild regime, including Campin, were brought to court; he was ordered to make a pilgrimage to Saint-Gilles and pay a fine. Campin was married to Ysabel de Stocquain (Elisabeth van Stokkem); the couple was childless. He had an affair with Laurence Polette, for which he was prosecuted in 1432 and sentenced to banishment for a year. Margaret of Burgundy, wife of the Count of Holland and sister of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, intervened on his behalf, and the penalty was reduced to a fine. He died in his adopted city of Tournai in 1444.

Reader's Guide

Robert Campin is significant as a foundational figure of early Netherlandish painting, alongside Jan van Eyck. His work shows the influence of International Gothic artists the Limbourg brothers (1385–1416) and Melchior Broederlam (c. 1350 – c.1409), but displays greater realistic observation than any earlier artists, achieved through innovations in the use of oil paints. He was one of the first to experiment with oil-based colours instead of egg-based tempera, modelling light and shade in compositions of complex perspectives. His best known work is the Mérode Altarpiece of c. 1425–28. The identification of Campin with the Master of Flémalle remains a matter of scholarly debate; some argue the Flémalle panels were painted by Rogier van der Weyden when he was in his twenties. The corpus of works attributed to Campin includes the Flémalle panels, a Nativity at Dijon, a Crucified Thief fragment in Frankfurt, two portraits of a man and woman in London (of around 1430), and possibly the Seilern Triptych. He taught both Rogier van der Weyden (recorded as Rogelet de la Pasture) and Jacques Daret. His workshop produced numerous commissions, and the dated Werl Altarpiece (1438) shows he continued to work after his legal troubles.

Did You Know?

• Campin was prosecuted in 1432 for an affair with Laurence Polette and sentenced to banishment for a year, but Margaret of Burgundy intervened and the penalty was reduced to a fine.
• He employed four apprentices between 1426 and 1428, including Rogelet de le Pasture (later Rogier van der Weyden) and Jaquelotte Daret (Jacques Daret).
• Campin owned several houses, purchased city bonds, and invested in mortgages.
• The Mérode Altarpiece, his best known work, is dated to c. 1425–28.
• No works can be certainly identified as by Campin through a signature or contemporary documentation.