Sluter, Claus

(c. 1350-1406)

   Claus Sluter from Haarlem is listed in the records of the stonemasons' guild in Brussels in 1379. In 1385, he entered in the service of Philip the Bold of Burgundy, who established the Chartreuse de Champmol, the Carthusian monastery in Dijon as his and his family's final resting place. Philip put Sluter in charge of the monastery's sculptural decorations in 1389 when his court mason, Jean de Marville, died. Sluter's Well of Moses (1395-1406; Dijon, Musée Archéologique), rendered for the Chartreuse, is among the most impressive of his surviving works. This piece was originally surmounted by a Calvary scene and poly-chromed and gilded by Jean Malouel, the duke's court painter. In its present state, the work features six life-size prophets holding scrolls, with Moses at the front. Though dependent on French Gothic precedents, Sluter's figures possess a monumentality and forcefulness not present in the more delicate, elegant figures of the Gothic style. For this reason, he is considered the father of Northern Renaissance sculpture and a pioneer of Northern realism.

   See also Road to calvary.