Robert Campin - Life

Life

Campin first appears as settled in Tournai from the archives of 1405–6, as a free master of the guild of painters, and there has been a lot of speculation about his origin and birthplace which is actually unknown. However, in 1410 he bought citizenship, which suggests he was not born there. He eventually attained the office of dean of the guild, and wardenship of a church and other civic offices, and was running a large workshop. By 1432, however, he lost his civic positions because of scandals, and probably his role in political disturbances in the city. In 1429 he was found guilty of withholding evidence, and sentenced to go on a pilgrimage, and in 1432 was convicted of adultery and banished for a year. Margaret of Burgundy, wife of the Count of Holland and sister of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy intervened on his behalf, and this was reduced to a fine. The dated Werl Altarpiece (1438) shows he continued to work (the two outer wings are in the Prado; the main panel is lost). He died in Tournai.

Read more about this topic:  Robert Campin

Famous quotes containing the word life:

    Why not walk in the aura of magic that gives to the small things of life their uniqueness and importance? Why not befriend a toad today?
    Germaine Greer (b. 1939)

    But that beginning was wiped out in fear
    The day I swung suspended with the grapes,
    And was come after like Eurydice
    And brought down safely from the upper regions;
    And the life I live now’s an extra life
    I can waste as I please on whom I please.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    He is a strong man who can hold down his opinion. A man cannot utter two or three sentences, without disclosing to intelligent ears precisely where he stands in life and thought, namely, whether in the kingdom of the senses and the understanding, or, in that of ideas and imagination, in the realm of intuitions and duty.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)