Geertgen Tot Sint Jans
Netherlandish Northern Renaissance Painter, ca.1460-1490
Geertgen tot Sint Jans is also known as Geertgen van Haarlem, Gerrit van Haarlem, or Gerrit Gerritsz.[citation needed] Alternative spellings of his first name are Gheertgen, Geerrit, and Gheerrit, where G(h)eertgen is the diminutive form of G(h)eerrit.
Presumably, he was born in Leiden, then in the Burgundian Netherlands in the Holy Roman Empire, around the year 1465. The assignment of Leiden as his birth place is traceable to a 17th century print by Jacob van Matham. There is no known archival evidence for this claim by Jacob van Matham. The modern acceptance of Leiden as Geertgen's birth place is roughly traceable to Johann Kessler's dissertation of 1930.
Probably, Geertgen was a pupil of Albert van Ouwater, who was one of the first oil painters in the northern Low Countries. Both painters lived in the city of Haarlem. Geertgen was attached to the monastery of the Knights of Saint John, for whom he painted an altarpiece. Although Geertgen was not a member of the Order of Saint John, his last name "tot Sint Jans" was derived from the order's name and means "unto Saint John".
Geertgen died in Haarlem, then the Habsburg Netherlands in the Holy Roman Empire, around the year 1495, when he was approximately 28 years old. He was buried in the monastery of the Knights of Saint John. Modern scholars have attempted to calculate the artist's death date with the information from The Painting-Book (Middle Dutch: Het Schilder-Boeck) by Karel van Mander, published in 1604. There are some archival traces that suggest he may in fact have lived into the 16th century.
ID: 62445 Virgin and Child 26,8 x 20,5 cm Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam This small painting of the Madonna depicts a fragile female figure holding her newborn together with a vanquished dragon. The artist indicates her floating, vision-like quality with the use of fantastic lighting and an army of angels in concentric circles. By arranging the choir of angels in a manner reminiscent of spheres, it is also expressed that the infant Jesus in the centre of the picture is the ruler of the Universe. With a sweeping gesture and a look of concentration, the infant is shaking two bells, as if to be in concert with the angel doing the same thing on the left side of the picture. They are definitely looking at each other, and since they are the only two doing this, the action has special significance: it shows the "conductor" Jesus in the role of the universe's prime mover. Thus the painting clearly expresses a concept formulated by St Thomas Aquinas, according to which Jesus created the harmony of the spheres. In Geertgen's painting the three attributes of Mary (glory, sadness and joy) are represented by angels encircling the Madonna in three rings. The inner circle contains six-winged cherubs and seraphs. The angels of the second circle hold above the head of Mary the early Christian symbols of glorification, scrolls with the word "Sanctus" appearing on them three times. The rest bear the objects associated with the Passion: the cross, the crown of thorns, a spear, nails, a hammer, and a column. The outside circle presents a multitude of musical angels, symbolizing heavenly happiness. Here we can see nearly all of the instruments of the period: lutes, violas, double recorders, trumpets, drums, bells, horns, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdies, etc. The larger keyboard instruments are located in the corners; on the organ we can see the hand-operated bellows. Obviously, the painter did not intend to reproduce the image of a real orchestra, that is why he included instruments which were never used together
