Claus Sluter (1340s in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

– 1405 or 1406 in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...

) was a Dutch sculptor, living in the

Duchy of Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy (; la, Ducatus Burgundiae; french: Duché de Bourgogne, ) emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the ...

from about 1380. He was the most important northern European sculptor of his age and is considered a pioneer of the "northern realism" of the

Early Netherlandish painting Early Netherlandish painting, traditionally known as the Flemish Primitives, refers to the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. It flourished especia ...

that came into full flower with the work of

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. A ...

and others in the next generation.

Life

The name "Claes de Slutere van Herlam" is inscribed in the Register of the Corporation of Stonemasons and Sculptors of

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

around the years 1379/1380. He then moved to the Burgundian capital of

, where from 1385 to 1389 he was the assistant of Jean de Marville, court sculptor to

Philip the Bold Philip II the Bold (; ; 17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404) was Duke of Burgundy and ''jure uxoris'' Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg. Philip II w ...

Duke of Burgundy Duke of Burgundy (french: duc de Bourgogne) was a title used by the rulers of the Duchy of Burgundy, from its establishment in 843 to its annexation by France in 1477, and later by Holy Roman Emperors and Kings of Spain from the House of Habsburg ...

. From 1389 to his death he was court sculptor himself, with the rank of ''

valet de chambre ''Valet de chambre'' (), or ''varlet de chambre'', was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal households had many persons appointed at any time. While some valets simply waited on ...

''. He was succeeded by his nephew Claus de Werve.

Work

Sluter's most significant work is the so-called '' Well of Moses'' (1395–1403), or the Great Cross. It was created for the

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has i ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

of Champmol, which was founded by Philip the Bold right outside Dijon in 1383. For many years, the top portion was thought to have included (along with Christ on a cross), sculptures of the Virgin and John the Evangelist. However it was more likely just Christ, with Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the cross. The cross, and whatever was on the terrace below, was destroyed at some point after 1736 and before 1789, probable because the roof of the building protecting the monument collapsed. Some fragments from the original Cross are preserved in the

Musée Archéologique de Dijon The Musée Archéologique de Dijon is an archaeology museum focusing on the archaeology of Burgundy that was founded in 1832 in Côte-d'Or within Dijon, France. It contains collections regarding "the men of Burgandy" that covers the periods of pr ...

. Life-sized figures representing Old Testament prophets and kings (Moses, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Zachariah, and Isaiah) stand around the base, holding phylacteries and books inscribed with verses from their respective texts, which were interpreted in the Middle Ages as typological prefigurations of the sacrifice of Christ. The work's physical structure, in which the Old Testament figures support those of the New Dispensation, literalizes the typological iconography. The pedestal surmounts a hexagonal fountain. The entire monument is executed in limestone quarried from Tonnerre and Asnières. Dijon - Chartreuse de Champmol - Portail 1

Dijon - Chartreuse de Champmol - Portail 1

A few steps away from The Well of Moses one finds the portal of the former mortuary chapel of Champmol. The portal consists of three sculptural groups by Sluter: a standing Madonna and Child at the

trumeau A trumeau is the central pillar or mullion supporting the tympanum of a large doorway, commonly found in medieval buildings.''Merriam-Webster Dictionary''"trumeau"/ref> An architectural feature, it is often sculpted. Gallery File:Trumeau.jpg, T ...

; the duke and St. John, his patron saint, at the left jamb and the duchess and her patron saint, Catherine, at the right one. Sluter was also responsible for the main part of the work on Philip's tomb, which (restored and partly reconstructed) has been moved to the Museum of Fine Arts which is housed in the former ducal palace in Dijon. Sluter was one of the sculptors of the

pleurants Pleurants or weepers (the English meaning of ''pleurants'') are anonymous sculpted figures representing mourners, used to decorate elaborate tomb monuments, mostly in the late Middle Ages in Western Europe. Typically they are relatively small, ...

, or mourners, which occupy niches below the tombs of Philip the Bold, his wife Margaret, and John the Fearless.

References

Sources

* Jugie, Sophie. ''The Mourners: Tomb Sculpture from the Court of Burgundy ''. Paris: 1; First Edition, 2010. * Nash, Susie. ''Northern Renaissance art''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. * Kaldenbach, Kees. Web page on the Calvary sculpture, Rijksmuseum, 2021 https://johannesvermeer.info/sluter-calvary-rijksmuseum.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sluter, Claus 1340s births 1405 deaths Early Netherlandish sculptors Dutch sculptors Dutch male sculptors 14th-century French sculptors French male sculptors Gothic sculptors Northern Renaissance Artists from Haarlem Arts in the court of Philip the Good Early Netherlandish art Dutch Roman Catholics Catholic sculptors