A longer look: Gossaert's 'Adoration of the Kings'
The lecturer
Aliki Braine, took the innovative approach to begin with of giving us a print
of the picture and making us fold it up to help us look at the symmetry of the
work. We then looked at the detail of it and the iconography.
She then took us
through the technique used taking Messys St Luke as an example of how an artist
worked. She showed us a Van de Goes with a similar composition but cut down. We
also looked at the Durer print which featured the dog in the foreground. We also
talked about what is known about Gossaert the man.
We spent some
time at the picture sharing our thoughts and observations. Aliki also talked us
through some of the other contemporary pictures in the room to show us the
diverse nature of art at the time. I’d not realised that an Adam and Eve in the
same room with a very sculptural look was also by Gossaert. The two pictures
seem to come from different worlds. We talked about different patrons and also
about how 50% of church art from this area at this time was destroyed in the
iconoclasm of 1566 so we have a skewed view of the period. Was it just the best
which was saved or is it more random than that!
Back at the
seminar room we put the picture in its historic context and talked about
changing ideas at the time and thoughts about the difference between seeing and
looking. She took the example of two versions of St Luke by Gossaert, in one
the saint looks at the Virgin and paints what he sees in the other the
implication is that he is imagining her.
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