Alongside his student Rogier van der Weyden and the van Eyck brothers, Robert Campin ranks as one of the great masters of early Netherlandish painting. Yet, because he did not sign his works, his name was soon forgotten and, for many years, art historians referred to his oeuvre as being by the Master of Flemalle. Even today, his works still stand in the shadow of the famous paintings by the van Eyck brothers, while some are misconstrued as masterpieces by his own student, among them the Descent from the Cross which hangs in the Prado in Madrid.
A major section of this publication comprises a completely reworked catalogue raisonne of the oeuvre of Robert Campin, his workshop and his students, including a list of works previously ascribed to him by convention, which, given the latest research findings, must now be dismissed as misattributions.
By showing that it was Robert Campin who designed the important textile works displayed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and Tournai Cathedral, hitherto associated only indirectly, if at all, with this artist, the author opens up an entirely new dimension in the artist's oeuvre.
The most spectacular re-attribution, however, concerns the Descent from the Cross in Madrid, widely accepted until now as an early masterpiece by Rogier van der Weyden. Together with the three Flemalle Panels in the Stadel, Frankfurt, which can be taken as the altar wings of the Madrid Descent from the Cross, one of the seminal works of European painting can now be reconstructed.
A wealth of colour plates showing details of the paintings on the scale of the originals not only permit a close study of Campin's technical virtuosity and his magisterial handling of colour, but also offer an opportunity to compare details.