Robert Campin (c. 1375 – 1444), now usually identified with the Master of Flémalle (earlier the Master of the Merode Triptych, before the discovery of three other similar panels), was the first great master of Flemish and Early Netherlandish painting. Campin's identity and the attribution of the paintings in both the "Campin" and "Master of Flémalle" groupings have been a matter of controversy for decades. Campin was highly successful during his lifetime, and thus his activities are relatively well documented, but he did not sign or date his works, and none can be securely connected with him. A corpus of work attached to the unidentified "Master of Flémalle," so named in the 19th century after three religious panels said to have come from a monastery in Flémalle. They are each assumed to be wings of triptychs or polyptychs, and are the Virgin and Child with a Firescreen now in London, a panel fragment with The Crucified Thief in Frankfurt, and the Brussels version of the Mérode Altarpiece.
Campin was active by 1406 as a master painter in Tournai, in today's Belgium, and became that city's leading painter for 30 years. He had attained citizenship by 1410, and may have studied under Jan van Eyck. His fame had spread enough by 1419 that he led a large and profitable workshop. He became involved in the revolt of the Brotherhoods in the early 1420s; this, along with an extra-marital affair with a woman named Leurence Pol, led to his imprisonment. Yet he maintained his standing and workshop until his death in 1444.
The early Campin panels shows the influence of the International Gothic artists the Limbourg brothers (1385 – 1416) and Melchior Broederlam (c. 1350 – c.1409), but display a more realistic observation than any earlier artists, which he achieved through innovations in the use of oil paints He was successful in his lifetime, and the recipient of a number of civic commissions.
Campin taught both Rogier van der Weyden (named in these early records as Rogelet de la Pasture, a French version of his name) and Jacques Daret. He was a contemporary of Jan van Eyck, and they met in 1427. Campin's best known work is the Mérode Altarpiece of c 1425–28.
This is part 2 of a 2-part post on the works of Robert Campin:
Note: In some cases I am showing Campins works at a size that will show the whole painting, followed by and enlargement showing more detail.
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece)
oil on oak panels 64.5 x 117.8 cm
The Cloisters Museum, New York |
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece)
Left wing oil on oak panel 64.1 x 27.3 cm
The Cloisters Museum, New York |
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece)
Left wing oil on oak panel detail |
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece) Centre panel
oil on oak panel 64.4 x 63.2 cm
The Cloisters Museum, New York copy |
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece)
Centre panel detail |
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece)
Right panel detail |
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece)
Right panel detail |
![]() |
c1427-32 The Annunciation (Mérode Altarpiece)
Right panel detail |
![]() |
c1430 The Crucified Thief
oil on wood panel 92.5 x 33 cm
Städel, Frankfurt am Main, Germany |
![]() |
c1430 The Crucified Thief
oil on wood panel detail |
![]() |
before 1432 Workshop of Robert Campin
Portrait of a Franciscan (?)
oil on oak panel 18.7 x 11.7 cm
The National Gallery, London |
![]() |
1c433-35 Holy Trinity
oil on wood panel 34.3 x 24.5 cm
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
![]() |
c1433-35 Virgin and Child
oil on wood panel 34.3 x 24.5 cm
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
![]() |
c1433-35 Virgin and Child
oil on wood panel detail |
![]() |
c1435 Portrait of a Man(part of A Man and Woman, probably husband and wife)
oil and egg tempera on oak panel 40.7 x 28.1 cm
The National Gallery, London |
![]() |
c1435 Portrait of a Woman
(part of A Man and Woman, probably husband and wife)
oil with egg tempera on oak panel 40.6 x 28.1 cm
The National Gallery, London |
![]() |
c1435 Virgin and Child in an Interior
(Workshop of Robert Campin)
oil on oak panel 23 x 15 cm
National Gallery, London |
![]() |
1438 The Werl Altarpiece
(two surviving wings of a tryptich)
oil on oak panels 101 x 47 cm each
Prado Museum, Madrid |
![]() |
1438 The Werl Altarpiece
(two surviving wings of a tryptich)
oil on oak panels 101 x 47 cm each
Prado Museum, Madrid |
![]() |
| 1438 The Werl Altarpiece detail |
![]() |
1440 The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen
oil and tempera on oak panel with walnut additions
63.4 x 48.5 cm
The National Gallery, London |
![]() |
| 1440 The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen detail |
![]() |
| 1440 The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen detail |
![]() |
| 1440 The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen detail |
![]() |
c1448-1465 Descent from the Cross
probable workshop copy of a lost triptych
oil on panels
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK |
![]() |
c1448-1465 Descent from the Cross
left panel |
![]() |
c1448-1465 Descent from the Cross
centre panel |
![]() |
1c448-1465 Descent from the Cross
copy of the centre panel of a lost triptych by Campin
ink and red chalk on paper 26.7 x 25.7 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK |
![]() |
c1448-1465 Descent from the Cross
centre panel detail |
![]() |
c1448-1465 Descent from the Cross
centre panel detail |
![]() |
c1448-1465 Descent from the Cross
right panel |
|
![]() |
c1475-1500 copy after Robert Campin
Virgin and Child, with Two Angels in an Apse
oil and gold on wood panel 48.3 x 35.2 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
![]() |
c1480 Virgin and Child in an Apse
copy after Robert Campin
oil on canvas laid down on wood panel 45.1 x 23.3 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
![]() |
c1500 copy after Robert Campin Virgin and Child in an Apse with Two Angels
oil on oak panel 56.7 x 44.1 cm
The National Gallery, London |
![]() |
The Virgin Suckling the Christ Child
oil on wood panel 27.3 cm diameter
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
