Jean Malouel

Johan Maelwael or Jan Maelwael (c. 1365/1370 in the duchy of Guelders, † 1419 in Dijon ) was a Flemish painter of the Gothic. In France he was known by the name of Jean Malouel or Maluel or Jehan Maleuel.

Life

Jan Maelwael came as the son of Willem Maelwael in the duchy of Guelders to the world. His father, who may have come from the area around Cleves, settled in 1380 in Nijmegen. Willem also had a daughter named Mechtild ( metta ), who married around 1385 Arnold of Limburg. It is not only the mother of the famous brothers Limburg, but also the sister of Jan Maelwael. Willem Maelwael taught his workshop in the Burchtstraat in Nijmegen, and also resulted from work commissioned by the Duke of Geldern, who resided at that time in Nijmegen during his stays in Valkhof. Here the appropriate atmosphere in which the adolescent Jan Maelwael the necessary knowledge and artistic skills of the craft could acquire prevailed.

Catherine of Bavaria, wife of Duke Wilhelm of funds was also a great-aunt of Elisabeth of Bavaria, who lived at the same time as the wife of the French king at his court, and there bore the name Isabeau. By Catherine, it is believed, Jan Maelwael was conveyed to the French court. At least dipped a certain Hennequin de Mallivieil to 1396 on there. He worked for a year for Queen Isabeau in Paris. From there he moved on to Dijon, where Philip the Bold, the sibling of Isabeau resided. January Maelwael spent the years from 1397 to 1415 mainly in Dijon as a court painter to the dukes of Burgundy, Philip the Bold for first and later for John the Fearless. In 1405, shortly after the death of Philip the Bold, he returned for a visit back to his old home town of Nijmegen and took this opportunity Heilwig van Redinchaven wife. It probably was not his first marriage, as he seemed to be widowed at the time. The two returned together back to Dijon. It last time he came in 1413 to Nijmegen to regulate family matters. Two years later, in 1415, he died in Dijon. He left behind his wife and four children. This, however, remained in Dijon, as John the Fearless, granted her a pension. Also, they returned once to Nijmegen to regulate a contentious Erbangelegenheit which then should last for decades.

Work

Among a number of paintings that are attributed to him, is the best known, the "Martyrdom of Saint Denis ," which now hangs in the Louvre. Another important work is also located in the Louvre large, round Pietà. The picture is the first Tondo of western art history. Also hangs in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, one of his works.

Johan Maelwael was the uncle of the Limbourg Brothers and his works are among the first with the realistic Flemish style that influenced the French painting.

Virgin with Angels, c.1410 ( Gemäldegalerie Berlin )

Martyrdom of Saint Denis to 1415-1416 ( Bellechose? ), ( Louvre)