An artist whose identity remains a mystery is the Master of the Houghton Miniatures, named after Harvard University's library in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a prayer book illustrated by the anonymous illuminator resides. Most likely active in Flanders at the end of the Fifteenth Century, a number of the artist's few extant works are known for the painter's fine precision in drawing and remarkable ability to convey both space and depth. In his Annunciation to the Shepherds, the Master portrayed herdsmen in Bethelem's rural outskirts. Hovering above them, a resplendently radiant angel, messenger of the Christ Child's birth, emanates a near-blinding light onto the unsuspecting shepherds, encouraging them to cover their faces. Other angels float loftily above Jesus' manger; their incandescent glow indicates the shepherds' eventual destination, a stable in the composition's distant background that's lit from within. The peasants' startlingly realistic and rugged portraits are rivaled only by those of the Netherlandish painter Hugo van der Goes (act. by 1467, d. 1482) in his Portinari Altarpiece (ca. 1480), a Northern European artistic sensation upon its arrival in Quattrocento Florence.
"Landscape in the Renaissance" is on view from August 1 to October 15, 2006 at The Getty Museum, located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1681 (Telephone: 310-440-7300; Website). The museum is open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Friday and Saturday from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Admission is free. Paid parking is based on availability and costs $8.00 per car, cash only.
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From your Guide: Stan Parchin, Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, is a regular contributor to About Art History and the author of this feature. You may read all of his Special Exhibition and Catalogue Reviews here.
"Landscape in the Renaissance" is on view from August 1 to October 15, 2006 at The Getty Museum, located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1681 (Telephone: 310-440-7300; Website). The museum is open Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Friday and Saturday from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Admission is free. Paid parking is based on availability and costs $8.00 per car, cash only.
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From your Guide: Stan Parchin, Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, is a regular contributor to About Art History and the author of this feature. You may read all of his Special Exhibition and Catalogue Reviews here.