Campin, Robert

(born c. 1378, Tournai, Fr.—died April 26, 1444, Tournai) Flemish painter. He is identified with the Master of Flémalle on stylistic grounds. Documents show that Campin was a master painter in Tournai in 1406; two students are listed as entering his studio in 1427: Rogier van der Weyden and Jacques Daret. Campin's principal surviving works are two large panels of an altarpiece once believed to have come from a nonexistent Abbey of Flémalle. The famous Mérode Altarpiece, a triptych of the Annunciation formerly regarded as his masterpiece, is now thought to be by a member of his workshop or circle. Characterized by a naturalistic conception of form and a poetic representation of the objects of daily life, Campin's work marks the break with the prevailing International Gothic style and prefigures the achievements of the painters of the Northern Renaissance. Despite much uncertainty about his life and work, he was one of the most important and influential Flemish artists of the 15th century.

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