Jan Gossaert's Renaissance

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Susan Grange visits an illuminating exhibition

Entertaining, illuminating, varied, at times surprising –  just some of the words that spring to mind on seeing the exhibition 'Jan Gossaert's Renaissance' at London’s National Gallery (until 30 May 2011).

Centrepiece of the exhibition is Gossaert's stunning altarpiece The Adoration of the Kings, which displays the celebrated naturalism and verisimilitude for which 15^th-century Flemish art was and is deservedly famous. Large and imposing, the altarpiece is a tour de force of artistic skill and invention. The rich colours of the Kings' contemporary-style apparel glow with the intricate detail of fabric, jewels and embellishments. Even the angels hovering overhead wear different coloured robes and have multi-coloured wings.  The virgin, portrayed in traditional 15^th-  century style, is dignified in her luxurious, flowing gown of subtly blended shades of blue.  The Christ child takes a golden coin from the sumptuous gold vessel offered to him by the kneeling, adoring King.

The whole is set in a scene of an architectural ruin, indicative of the overthrow of the old order now that Christ, the bringer of the new order, has arrived.  The deep space in the centre background recedes into a townscape of tiny detailed buildings whilst to the side of the painting a country landscape reveals multiple minute details of a pastoral vision.  The attention to detail is astonishing and Gossaert seems to have pushed his artistic skills and powers of invention to their limits.

The room full of portraits by Gossaert provides a striking contrast to other works in the exhibition and comes as an unexpected pleasure and surprise.  The gallery of varied characters of differing ages and social classes creates a gathering of  technically exquisitely depicted individuals and provides psychological insights into each character.

In  Portrait of a Merchant  the clearly prosperous man is well-dressed and wearing expensive rings.  He looks out to the viewer somewhat distrustfully as we take a look into his office.  He is sitting at his desk surrounded by writing equipment, quill pens, an ink well and sand to dry the ink, with receipts and papers pinned together hanging on the wall behind him. Everything is depicted with great care and in meticulous detail and we are able for a moment to share a brief visit to the hub of this man's business, to meet him briefly and get to know him a little.

Gossaert was clearly a master painter, on top of his trade technically and creative and perceptive to boot.  There is, however, another particular reason why Gossaert is crucially significant as an artist. In 1508-9 he travelled to Rome in the entourage of his patron Philip of Burgundy. Gossaert has the distinction of being the first Flemish artist to make drawings of the antiquities of Rome and to take them back to his homeland.  He was the first artist to introduce into the art of the Low Countries the Italian style of depicting historical and mythological subjects with nude figures.  He was thus a pivotal figure in the development of Flemish art, which would eventually lead to the age of Rubens.

Gossaert's patron, Philip of Burgundy was an admiral who eventually became Bishop of Utrecht.  He doesn't seem to have let this interfere with with his penchant for the opposite sex, particularly young girls, saying he thought it was impossible for a healthy man to live chastely. After returning from Italy, Philip commissioned Gossaert to decorate his castle with painted nude figures from classical mythology. Various depictions of nude figures appear in the exhibition.  They are not all elegant Italianate figures but are frequently rather generously proportioned and ungainly. Philip nonetheless seems to have been very pleased with Gossaert's work, commissioning him to paint works such as Salmacis and Hermaphrodite (c.1517) and Venus (c.1521), not only for himself but to give to others as gifts.

This exhibition, generously supported by the Flemish Government, is the first major exhibition devoted to Gossaert's work in more than 45 years.  As well as portraying Gossaert's versatility as a Flemish artist in the tradition of van Eyck it clearly shows him as a master portraitist and an artistic pioneer, bridging the gap between the Northern and Southern renaissances and carving a new path for Low Countries' artists of the future.

Entertaining, illuminating, varied, at times surprising, but always interesting, this is an exhibition which will delight the eye and stimulate the mind.