Hugo van der Goes

Right wing of Deposition (c. 1480), tempera on canvas, 53.5 x 38.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie Berlin

Hugo van der Goes (c. 1440–1482 or 1483) was a Flemish painter. He was, along with Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hans Memling and Gerard David, one of the most important of the Early Netherlandish painters.

Biography

Born at Ghent, he became a member of the painters' guild of Ghent as a master in 1467. In 1468 he was involved in the decoration of the town of Bruges in celebration of the marriage between Charles the Bold and Margaret of York and he provided heraldic decorations for Charles's joyeuse entrée to Ghent in 1469 and again in 1472. He was elected dean of the Ghent guild in 1473 or 1474.

Portinari Altarpiece, c. 1475.

In 1475, or some years later, Hugo entered Roodklooster, a monastery near Brussels belonging to the Windesheim Congregation, and professed there as a frater conversus. He continued to paint, and remained at Roodklooster until his death in 1482 or 1483. In 1480 he was called to the town of Leuven to evaluate the Justice Scenes left unfinished by the painter Dieric Bouts on his death in 1475. Shortly after this, Hugo, returning with other members of his monastery from a trip to Cologne, fell into a state of suicidal gloom, declaring himself to be damned. After returning to Roodklooster, Hugo recovered from his illness, and died there. His time at Roodklooster is recorded in the chronicle of his fellow monk, Gaspar Ofhuys. A report by a German physician, Hieronymus Münzer, from 1495, according to which a painter from Ghent was driven to melancholy by the attempt to equal the Ghent Altarpiece, may refer to Hugo.

His most famous surviving work is the Portinari Triptych (Uffizi, Florence), an altarpiece commissioned for the church of San Egidio in the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence by Tommaso Portinari, the manager of the Bruges branch of the Medici Bank. The triptych arrived in Florence in 1483, apparently some years after its completion by van der Goes. The largest Netherlandish work that could be seen in Florence, it was greatly praised. Giorgio Vasari in his Vite of 1550 referred to it as by "Ugo d'Anversa" ("Hugo of Antwerp"). This is the sole documentation for its authorship by Hugo; other works are attributed to him based on stylistic comparison with the altarpiece.

Hugo appears to have left a large number of drawings, and either from these or the paintings themselves followers made large numbers of copies of compositions that have not survived from his own hand. A drawing of Jacob and Rachel preserved at the Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford is thought to be a rare surviving autograph drawing; they also have two painted heads, a fragment from a large work.

Works

Paintings

Work	Title	Date	Technique	Dimensions	Museum
	Monforte Altarpiece	ca. 1470	oil on panel	147x242 cm + 9x76,3 cm	Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
	The Death of the Virgin	ca. 1470	oil on panel	147,8 x 122,5 cm	Groeningemuseum Bruges
	Portinari Altarpiece	ca. 1470	oil on panel	253 x 586 cm	Uffizi, Florence
	The Vienna Diptych	ca. 1475	oil on panel	32,3x21,9 cm (links) en 34,4x22,8 cm (rechts)	Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
	St Hippolyte Triptych (central panel attributed to Dieric Bouts)	ca. 1475	oil on panel	92 x 41 cm (linkerluik)	Groeningemuseum, Brugge
	Portrait of a donor with John the Baptist	ca. 1475	olieverf op paneel	32 x 22.5 cm	Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
	Portrait of a man	ca. 1475	oil on panel	oval 31,8 x 26 cm	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
	A Benedictine Monk	ca. 1478	oil on panel	25.1 x 18.7 cm	Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
	Trinity Altarpiece	ca. 1478 – 1479	oil on panel	4 maal 202x100.5 cm	National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh
	Left panel of a Deposition diptych	ca. 1480	tempera on canvas	53,5x38,5 cm	Private collection, New York
	Right panel of a Deposition diptych	ca. 1480	tempera on canvas	53,5x38,5 cm	Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
	Nativity with Shepherds	ca. 1480	oil on panel	97x245 cm	Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
	Madonna and child (middle panel of a triptych)	ca. 1480/1490	oil on panel	30 x 23 cm	Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main

Drawings

Work	Title	Date	Technique	Dimensions	Museum
	Jacob and Rachel	ca. 1470 – 1475	Pentekening in bruine inkt en kwast in bruin pigment, hoogsel in wit op papier met een leigrijze grondering	338x572 mm	Christ Church college, Oxford
	Joseph and Asenath	ca. 1475	Pentekening in geelachtig-bruine en donkerbruine inkt, lichtjes omlijnd in pen, restanten van een voortekening met een zwarte griffel, krijt(?) op papier	max. doorsnede 214 mm	Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
	Christ on the cross	ca. 1475 – 1480	kwast in bruin pigment, hoogsel in wit op papier met een grijs-bruin-violette grondering	258x204 mm	Windsor Castle

External links

• Artcyclopedia: Hugo van der Goes