Movement · 1420–1580

Northern Renaissance

Flemish painters build color in thin oil glazes over white grounds, reaching jewel-like reds and greens that tempera can't.

Across 28 works, the colors are mostly brown (52%), black (24%) and yellow (5%). On average the canvases are mid-toned, moderately saturated and warm. Signature colors, used far more here than across the collection: black, very dark rich sienna, soot, bistre and very dark sienna.

Color print

The swatches covering most of these canvases, averaged over every work, dark to light.

• MG 223 soot 9.7% of canvas
• MG 219 bistre 9.0% of canvas
• MG 222 charcoal 5.8% of canvas
• MG 177 dark taupe 5.1% of canvas
• MG 224 black 4.8% of canvas
• MG 220 warm black 3.4% of canvas
• MG 168 dark amber brown 3.0% of canvas
• MG 221 blue black 3.0% of canvas
• MG 176 taupe 2.9% of canvas
• MG 156 dark reddish brown 2.6% of canvas
• MG 185 dark golden umber 2.5% of canvas
• MG 167 brown 2.4% of canvas
• MG 169 dark brown 2.2% of canvas
• MG 184 umber 2.2% of canvas
• MG 173 putty 2.2% of canvas
• MG 174 warm grey 2.1% of canvas

Measurements

Lightness

0.44

Contrast

0.57

Vividness

0.043

Warmth

+0.93

Complexity

204 cells

Hue range

0.45

Focus

0.07

Composition

Averaged over 28 works: 50% of the visual weight in the right half, 50% in the lower half; symmetry 0.42; 14% calm space; half of the detail in 33% of the canvas. Measured from each image, not a rule the painters followed.

Artists

• Jan van Eyck 1390–1441
• Rogier van der Weyden 1395–1464
• Hans Memling 1435–1494
• Hieronymus Bosch 1450–1516
• Albrecht Dürer 1471–1528
• Lucas Cranach the Elder 1472–1553
• Hans Holbein the Younger 1497–1543
• Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1525–1569

Works

• Ghent Altarpiece, 1432
• Arnolfini Portrait, 1434
• Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, c. 1435
• The Madonna in the Church, 1440
• The Last Judgment (Beaune Altarpiece), 1443
• The Descent from the Cross, 1440s
• Portrait of a Lady, 1460
• The Last Judgment, 1467
• Scenes from the Passion of Christ, 1470
• Annunciation, 1480s
• Self-Portrait with Fur-Trimmed Robe, 1500
• The Garden of Earthly Delights, c. 1490–1510
• The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things, 1500
• Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1501
• Adoration of the Magi, 1504
• Ship of Fools, 1500–1509
• The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, 1520s
• Cupid Complaining to Venus, c. 1526
• Darmstadt Madonna, 1526
• The Four Apostles, 1526
• The Three Graces, 1531
• The Ambassadors, 1533
• The fountain of youth, 1546
• Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559
• The Triumph of Death, 1562
• The Hunters in the Snow, 1565
• The Blind Leading the Blind, 1568
• The Peasant Wedding, 1568