Geertgen tot Sint Jans (c. 1465 – c. 1495), also known as Geertgen van Haarlem, Gerrit van Haarlem, Gerrit Gerritsz, Gheertgen, Geerrit, Gheerrit, or any other

diminutive form A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

of Gerald, was an

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

from the northern

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

. No contemporary documentation of his life has been traced, and the earliest published account of his life and work is from 1604, in

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembe ...

's ''

Schilder-boeck or is a book written by the Flemish writer and painter Karel van Mander first published in 1604 in Haarlem in the Dutch Republic, where van Mander resided. The book is written in 17th-century Dutch and its title is commonly translated into En ...

''. According to van Mander, Geertgen was probably a pupil of Albert van Ouwater, one of the first oil painters in the northern

. Both painters lived in the city of

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 ...

, where Geertgen was attached to the house of the Knights of Saint John, perhaps as a

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

, for whom he painted an altarpiece. In van Mander's book he states that Geertgen took the name of St. John without joining the order, thus his last name "tot Sint Jans" was derived from the order's name and means "unto Saint John".

Biography

Though van Mander calls him ''Geertgen tot Sint Jans, painter from Haarlem'', indicating he was from Haarlem, it is possible that he was perhaps born in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, then in the

Burgundian Netherlands In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands (french: Pays-Bas bourguignons, nl, Bourgondische Nederlanden, lb, Burgundeschen Nidderlanden, wa, Bas Payis borguignons) or the Burgundian Age is the period between 1384 and ...

in the

, around the year 1465. The assignment of Leiden as his birthplace is traceable to a 17th-century print by

Jacob Matham Jacob Matham (15 October 1571 – 20 January 1631), of Haarlem, was a famous engraver and pen-draftsman. Biography He was the stepson and pupil of painter and draftsman Hendrik Goltzius, and brother-in-law to engraver Simon van Poelenburgh, hav ...

, where he is referred to as ''Gerardus van Leydanus''. There is no known archival evidence for this claim by Matham. This print of ''The Lamentation of Christ'' from 1620, shows in the lower left corner "''Cum privil. Sa Cae. M. – Gerardus Leydanus Pictor ad S. Ia Bapt. Harlemi pinxit''" indicating he was a painter from

at St John the Baptist in Haarlem. In the lower right hand corner it says "''Theodorus Matham Sculpsit. Iac Matham excud.''", which means that son Theo made the sketch from the painting, and father Jacob Matham engraved it. It was printed in Haarlem in 1620, indicating that the painting was still there at that time. According to van Mander, this painting of the ''Lamentation'' was originally on the inside right door of a wood-panel

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

for the high altar of the St. John's church in Haarlem, and the two side panels were sawed off from the central panel into two separate paintings after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. Both side panels are quite fragile and are located in separate museums today. Modern acceptance of Leiden as Geertgen's birthplace is roughly traceable to Johann Kessler's dissertation of 1930. He died, probably still in his twenties, around the year 1495, in Haarlem, where he was buried in the commandry. Modern scholars have attempted to calculate the artist's death date with the information from ''The Painting-Book'' (

Middle Dutch Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or c. 1550, there was no overarc ...

: ''Het

'') by

, published in 1604. The reconstruction of Geertgen's active dates has recently been done by Kemperdick and Sander in 2007 stating: Geertgen tot Sint Jans 004

:(Geertgen's) two paintings in Vienna indicate a self-assured artist; of the works attributed to Geertgen, they are certainly among the most mature and independent. If the artist was really only twenty-eight when he died, then the altarpiece began at about thirteen years of age and lasted four to six years, so that Geertgen can have ended his training at the earliest by the age of about eighteen. Should he have gone to work for one or two years as a journeyman, then the age at which he began to live by his art correspondingly rises. Accordingly, Geertgen worked a maximum of ten years independently. ...If one now dates the altarpiece for the Knights of St John to around 1490, then Geertgen must, roughly speaking, have been born around 1462/1467 – after the inscription on Matham's engraving in Leiden – and would have begun his apprenticeship around 1475/80. In the 14th century Haarlem was a major city. It was the second largest city in historical Holland after

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

and before Delft,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, Gouda and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. In 1429 the city gained the right to collect tolls, including ships passing the city on the Spaarne river. At the end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

Haarlem was a flourishing city with a large textile industry, shipyards and beer breweries. Geertgen Man van smarten

Around 1428 the city was put under siege by the army of

Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut Jacqueline ( nl, Jacoba; french: Jacqueline; german: Jakobäa; 15 July 1401 – 8 October 1436), of the House of Wittelsbach, was a noblewoman who ruled the counties of Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut in the Low Countries from 1417 to 1433. She ...

. Haarlem had taken sides with the Cods in the

Hook and Cod wars The Hook and Cod wars ( nl, Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten) comprise a series of wars and battles in the County of Holland between 1350 and 1490. Most of these wars were fought over the title of count of Holland, but some have argued that the un ...

, and thus against Jacoba of Bavaria. The entire

Haarlemmerhout The Haarlemmerhout is the oldest public park of the Netherlands. It lies on the south side of Haarlem, on the same old sandy sea wall that is shared by the public park Haagse Bos in The Hague and the Alkmaarderhout in Alkmaar. History On a map ...

wood was burnt down by the enemy. In 1469 the commandry of St. John in Haarlem was promoted to a special status that fell directly under the grand Prior of Germany. Before that it was a subordinate commandry of the Balij of Utrecht, which had 12 commandries reporting to it. The commandry of St. John became quite wealthy from donations by the local families

Berkenrode Berkenrode, or Berckenroode is a former 'Heerlijkheid' in the Dutch province of North Holland, situated on the southwest side of Haarlem on the leidsevaart, north of Iepenrode and west of Heemstede. The original castle Berkenrode in the center of ...

Assendelft Assendelft () is a town in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad. Assendelft was a separate municipality until 1974, when the municipality of Zaanstad was formed. However, Assendelft didn't wan ...

van Brederode The Lords of Van Brederode (''Heeren van Brederode'') were a noble family from Holland who played an important role during the Middle Ages and the Early modern period. The family had a high noble rank and hold the titles ''Count of Brederode'', ...

Tetrode A tetrode is a vacuum tube (called ''valve'' in British English) having four active electrodes. The four electrodes in order from the centre are: a thermionic cathode, first and second grids and a plate (called ''anode'' in British English). ...

Schoten Schoten () is a municipality located in Antwerp Province, Belgium. The municipality only comprises the town of Schoten proper. As of 1 January 2020 Schoten has a total population of 34,311. The total area is which gives a population density of ...

, and

Adrichem Christian Kruik van Adrichem, or Christianus Crucius Adrichomius, (February 13, 1533 – June 20, 1585) was a Catholic priest and theological writer. Biography Van Adrichem was born in Delft. He was ordained in 1566, and was Director of the in ...

. Schoten was also the location of a St. Lazarus church (currently part of

Het Dolhuys Het Dolhuys( meaning in English: "The crazy house") is a national museum for psychiatry in Haarlem, Netherlands. The museum was founded in 2005 in the newly renovated former old age home known as ''Schoterburcht'', located just across the Schot ...

) that later came into the possession of the St. Janskerk. Geertgen painted ''The Lamentation of Christ'' for the altarpiece of the church of the Knights of Saint John in Haarlem. The painting Lamentation was copied by Jacob Matham in 1620, a mirror image engraving, that includes a Latin poem by Joan Albert Ban, a dedication to

Jacob van Campen Jacob van Campen (2 February 1596 - 13 September 1657) was a Dutch artist and architect of the Golden Age. Life He was born into a wealthy family at Haarlem, and spent his youth in his home town. Being of noble birth and with time on his hand ...

, and Latin quote by Albrecht Dürer, showing that three men were inspired by this painting. The other side of this altarpiece is showing the burning of the bones of St. John and probably contains a group portrait of the Haarlem members of the order of St. John, with the Commandeur or Precepteur holding the finger of St. John. The St. John's church in

is where this painting formed the main altarpiece, currently home for the North Holland Archives. File:Geertgen_tot_Sint_Jans_006.jpg, Lamentation of Christ File:Geertgen tot Sint Jans - detail Lamentation - goffered veils.jpg, Detail Lamentation

Painting

Geertgen Tot sint Jans - Legend of the Relics of St

Of the paintings mentioned by Van Mander, the only one to survive is one wing of his

for an altar of the

Knights of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

at Haarlem, the two sides of which were sawn apart in about 1600, and are now in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

as ''The Legend of the Relics of St.

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

'', and the '' Lamentation of Jesus''. The rest was destroyed during the

siege of Haarlem The siege of Haarlem was an episode of the Eighty Years' War. From 11 December 1572 to 13 July 1573 an army of Philip II of Spain laid bloody siege to the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands, whose loyalties had begun wavering during the pre ...

in 1573. As is typical of the art of the time it was done primarily on

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

panels with oil paints made by mixing pigments with drying oil. This allowed the painter to build up layers of paint to provide different visual effects. The number of works attributed to him (varying between 12 and 16) is under dispute among scholars who discuss the artist (Kessler, Boon, Snyder, Chatelet, Fiero, and Koch). His paintings are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Gemäldegalerie in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

(''

Nativity at Night The ''Nativity at Night'' or ''Night Nativity'' is an Early Netherlandish painting of about 1490 by Geertgen tot Sint Jans in the National Gallery, London (NG 4081). It is a panel painting in oil on oak, measuring 34 × 25.3 cm., though i ...

''), the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

(''The raising of Lazarus'') in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Museum Catharijneconvent The Museum Catharijneconvent (St. Catherine's Convent Museum) is a museum of religious art in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is located in the former St. Catharine convent, having been sited there since 1979. Its collections include many artifacts fro ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

(''Man of Sorrows'') and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Reception

Van Mander states that Albrecht Dürer said of Geertgen "Truly he was a painter in his mother's womb", although Dürer's journal of his Netherlandish travels doesn't mention the painter, and it has been suggested that Van Mander was using a form of epideictic rhetoric to build esteem for a fellow Haarlemer.

Technique

Like most painters of his time, he painted with

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and va ...

on wood panels. His paintings depict scenes derived from the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

and belong to the early Dutch School. Some of his paintings were

destroyed Destroyed may refer to: * ''Destroyed'' (Sloppy Seconds album), a 1989 album by Sloppy Seconds * ''Destroyed'' (Moby album), a 2011 album by Moby See also * Destruction (disambiguation) Destruction may refer to: Concepts * Destruktion, a ...

during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. Around twelve surviving paintings are attributed to him (see below), with others believed to be copies by others of lost originals by him. Painting at that time was a trade to which one entered by apprenticeship at a young age in an established workshop. With modern techniques it is now possible to see some

underdrawing Underdrawing is a preparatory drawing done on a painting ground before paint is applied, for example, an imprimatura or an underpainting. Underdrawing was used extensively by 15th century painters like Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. These ...

s that Geertgen made on his panels.

Portrayal of music

Geertgen tot Sint Jans - The Glorification of the Virgin - Google Art Project

In his '' The Glorification of the Virgin'', also known as ''Madonna with Musical Angels'' and originally part of the so-called ''Rotterdam-Edinburgh Diptych'', the figures of Maria and the infant Jesus are surrounded by three concentric rings which appear to be surrounding a central halo. This "halo" is usually associated with the biblical verse in the Book of Revelation referring to the woman clothed in the Sun, interpreted as representing the Madonna in heaven.''The Technology of Salvation and the Art of Gertgen Tot Sint Jans.'' Chapter 2, pp. 37–60. The original diptych was first presented with a left panel of identical size usually referred to as Geertgen's ''Passion of Christ''. Within the concentric rings of the halo in the ''Madonna with Musical Angels'' panel are found a variety of musical instruments. This painting shows some of the oldest pictures of musical instruments known in the Netherlands (c.1480–1490). In the central depiction of the infant Jesus with the Madonna, the infant Jesus is depicted as playing a pair of bells, and seems to be playing music as if in response to one of the angels in the outermost concentric ring, holding an identical set of bells and looking directly back at the infant Jesus.

List of works

*''

The raising of Lazarus Lazarus of Bethany (Latinised from Lazar, ultimately from Hebrew Eleazar, "God helped"), also venerated as Righteous Lazarus, the Four-Days Dead in the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the subject of a prominent sign of Jesus in the Gospel of John, ...

'' (1480s) *'' St Bavo with falcon'' (c. 1490) *'' The Lamentation of Christ'' (after 1484) *'' The Holy Kinship'' (c. 1485–1496) *''

The Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

'' (c. 1480–1485) *'' Adoration of the Kings'' (c. 1485) *'' St Bavo with Donor'' – the left side of the ''Adoration of the Kings'' from ca. 1485 *'' St. Hadrian with Donor'' – the right side of the ''Adoration of the Kings'' from ca. 1485 *''

Madonna and child In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent i ...

'' (c. 1490) *'' John the Baptist in the Wilderness'' (c. 1490) *'' The Glorification of the Virgin'' (c. 1490–1495), also named ''Virgin and Child'' *''

'' (c. 1490?)

Notes

:* The title is ''Geschiedenis van het gebeente (beenderen) van Johannes de Doper'' in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

. :* For more information on

's "nationalistic" project, see Walter Melion's ''Shaping the Netherlandish Canon''.

References

*National Gallery Catalogues (new series): ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings'', Lorne Campbell, 1998, * Deugd boven geweld, Een geschiedenis van Haarlem, 1245–1995, edited by Gineke van der Ree-Scholtens, 1995, * Geertgen was hier: meesterschilder, lekenbroeder en inspirator, 2009, exhibition catalog edited by Maarten Brock, Amstelveen,

External links

Geertgen tot Sint Jans
at the

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the Ste ...

Geertgen van Haarlem
in ''Northern Renaissance Art'' (1966) by Wolfgang Stechow *