Background
Dirk Bouts was born circa 1415 in Haarlem, Netherlands.
Dirk Bouts was born circa 1415 in Haarlem, Netherlands.
Very little is known about Bouts' early life, but he was greatly influenced by Jan van Eyck and by Rogier van der Weyden, under whom he may have studied.
Sometime before 1450 Bouts took up residence in the Flemish city of Louvain. His name appeared in the records of Louvain in 1457 and again in 1468, when he was appointed "city painter. "
It is likely that Bouts spent some time in Bruges, as his earliest work, the Infancy Altarpiece shows the distinct and strong influence of Petrus Christus, the leading master of that city after the death of Jan van Eyck. The slightly later Deposition Altarpiece (ca. 1450) displays strong connections with the style of Rogier van der Weyden in both the figure types and the composition. About 1460, the period of the Entombment in London, the early, formative influence of Petrus Christus had been almost totally displaced by that of Rogier, though Bouts's personal vision began to emerge in the fluid and continuous landscape background.
The great Last Supper Altarpiece (1464-1467) marks the high point of Bouts's career. In this solemn and dignified masterpiece the painter achieved spiritual grandeur in the context of convincing physical reality. The central panel of the altarpiece is the most emphatically significant treatment of the theme of the Last Supper in Northern European art. The wings, which contain Old Testament prefigurations of the central theme, are freer and more loosely organized. Eschewing the symmetry and rigid axial construction of the main panel, Bouts produced rhythmic foreground compositions in combination with fluid and dramatic spatial recessions.
In 1468 Bouts was commissioned to paint four panels on the subject of justice for the Town Hall of Louvain. At the painter's death in 1475 only two of the paintings had been completed; they are among the most remarkable productions of his career. The unusual subjects, taken from the chronicles of a 12th-century historian, concern the wrongful execution by Emperor Otto III of one of his counts and the subsequent vindication of the nobleman by his wife. The finer of the panels represents the dramatic trial by fire which the wife was obliged to undergo to prove her husband's innocence. Rich draperies and sumptuous colors are applied to tall angular forms to create a work of rare formal elegance and high decorative appeal. In order to dignify the event, however, the artist has employed restrained gestures and expressions as well as a completely rationalized spatial setting. As in the Last Supper Altarpiece, a sense of solemn and hieratic importance is expressed by means of an austere and rigid geometry in the construction of both persons and places.
The late productions of Bouts's workshop, such as the well-known Pearl of Brabant Altarpiece, are characterized by the close collaboration of the painter's two sons, Dirk the Younger (1448-1491) and Aelbrecht (1455/1460-1549). In the paintings of his less gifted sons, the master's distinctive figure style was appreciably altered, though Dirk the Younger appears to have retained much of his father's sensitivity to the landscape.
In addition to his innovations in the depiction of landscape, Bouts made a substantial contribution to the development of the portrait. His Portrait of a Man (1462) localizes the sitter in an enlarged architectural setting while permitting the interior space to merge with the exterior through an open window. For the first time in Northern painting a common bond was forged between a particularized individual and the universal world of nature.
Christ in the House of Simon
1445Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos
1465The middle panel of The Pearl of Brabant: Adoration of the Magi
1445The Entombment
1459Martyrdom of St. Erasmus (right wing)
1458Martyrdom of St. Erasmus (left wing)
1458The Lamentation of Christ
1460Portrait of a Man
1462St. Hippolytus Triptych
1475The way to Paradise
1468The Virgin and Child
Hell
1450Virgin and Child
1460Third Appearance of Christ
Winged altar in St. Peter in Leuven
1465The Gathering of the Manna
1465Justice of the Emperor Otto: The Ordeal by Fire
1475Passion Altarpiece (central panel)
1455The right wing of The Pearl of Brabant: Saint Christopher
1468The Annunciation ((Polyptych of the Virgin, the wing)
1445Portrait of a Man
1470Passion Altarpiece (side wings)
1455Resurrection
1455Triptych The Pearl of Brabant. Left wing: St. John the Baptist, middle panel: Adoration of the Magi, right wing: St. Christopher
1470The Visitation
1445Martyrdom of St. Hippolytus - the central panel from St. Hippolytus Triptych
1475Martyrdom of St. Erasmus (central panel)
1458Virgin and Child
1460Madonna and Child on a grass bench
1470The Capture of Christ
The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek
1465Nativity (Polyptych of the Virgin, the wing)
1445The Feast of the Passover - from the Winged altar in St. Peter in Leuven
1465Prophet Elijah in the Desert - from the Winged altar in St. Peter in Leuven
1465Head of Christ
1464Justice of the Emperor Otto: The Execution of the Innocent Count
1475Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament
1466Mary and Child
1465Portrait of a Man
1462Polyptych of the Virgin: The Annunciation, The Visitation, The Adoration Of The Angels and The Adoration Of The Kings
1445The Last Supper - from the Winged altar in St. Peter in Leuven
1465Mater Dolorosa
1460Virgin and Child
1470Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus
1458Ecce agnus Dei
1463Dirk Bouts was married twice and had four children: two daughters and two sons. His elder son was Dieric the Younger and the younger son was Aelbrecht (or Albert), who became also painters.