Sint Jans, Geertgen tot

(1460/1465-1490)

   According to Karel van Mander, the Dutch painter Geertgen tot Sint Jans was born in Leiden and studied with Albert van Ouwater. He worked in Haarlem for various monastic orders, including the Knights of the Order of St. John, with whom he lived and for whom he painted an altarpiece. The side panels of this work have survived and are housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (c. 1484). The works include the Lamentation and the Burning of the Bones of St. John the Baptist, possibly painted to commemorate the knights' acquisition of parts of the saint's hand and arm from Sultan Bayazid in 1484. The Lamentation in particular shows the influence of Hugo van der Goes, which has prompted some to suggest that Geertgen may have trained in Bruges in c. 1475. Geertgen's Nativity (c. 1480-1485; London, National Gallery) denotes his interest in depicting supernatural light effects. In this work, the Christ Child becomes the light source that illuminates the rest of the figures, enhancing the sense of piety and humility that fills the work. The figures are delicate and elongated, their demeanor reserved. These types, humbled by the presence of the Savior, reappear in the several versions Geertgen painted of the Adoration of the Magi, among them the panel of c. 1490-1495 in the Cleveland Museum of Art, also influenced by van der Goes. According to van Mander, Geertgen died at the age of 28.