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- [Steven] We're in the Uffizi in Florence
and we're looking at an enormous altarpiece
by Hugo van der Goes known as the Portinari Altarpiece.
- [Beth] We're in Italy, but we're not looking
at an Italian Renaissance painting.
We're looking at a painting
from the Northern Renaissance from Bruges.
- [Steven] And it's interesting because this painting
has always been seen in Florence
amongst other works of Italian artists,
and this was placed in a church here in the city.
- [Beth] And it caused a big stir when it arrived
in the late 15th century, because there is
a big difference between the style
of the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance.
And so when this was seen in Italy,
it caused something of a surprise.
- [Steven] But it's also a reminder of the close ties
between businessmen in Italy and in the North.
And in fact, one of the most important banking families
in Florence, the Medici, had a major office
in the city of Bruges and it was one of their agents
that actually commissioned this painting.
- [Beth] We see Tommaso Portinari, the patron,
along with his two sons and on the right,
his wife with their daughter, but they're represented
much smaller than their patron saints who tower above them,
and they're also in that characteristic
kneeling position that we often see patrons in.
- [Steven] The central panel is a nativity
as well as the adoration of the shepherds.
- [Beth] Mary and Joseph, and the angels
worship the newly-born Christ child, who we see here
surrounded with a protective halo of light.
- [Steven] Although seeming very vulnerable there.
- [Beth] Everyone keeps their distance
and looks down at him, and what I really like
about this painting is all of the distinct groups
who in their individual focus and attention
are alone in their sense of the miraculousness
of this moment when God is made flesh.
- [Steven] Well, look at Mary.
She looks down at him with a kind of solemnity,
a kind of dignity, and despite the distance
between her and the child, a kind of intimacy.
The painting feels spacious.
To some extent, it's because
the central panel is 10 feet wide.
Each figure is accorded a lot of room,
and that gives the artist an opportunity
to put in lots of detail.
In the foreground, there is for example,
a lovely still life.
We see a vase that holds flowers.
We see one red lily, a symbol of Christ's suffering to come,
and then we see irises, flowers associated
with the Virgin Mary.
In addition, we see columbines,
associated with the sorrow of the Virgin Mary,
and then scattered on the floor are violets.
- [Beth] And behind them a sheaf of wheat,
which is associated with the body of Christ.
In the sacrament of the Eucharist, the bread and the wine
are the body and blood of Christ.
- [Steven] And look at the way that the sheath of wheat
lies on the floor, just the way the Christ child
lies on the floor, and the yellow of the wheat
is not so distant from the gold of the halo.
Look at the level of botanical specificity.
You can see why the Italians were really awed
by the naturalism of the Northern painters.
- [Beth] And that's a totally different kind of naturalism.
With the Italians, they're going for a naturalism
that has to do with a unified space constructed
with the use of linear perspective, where everything
makes sense in relationship to one another
within that space.
- [Steven] And the human body as well.
- [Beth] But here we're going for a naturalism
that has to do with a very close observation
of very specific things, in a way that doesn't
take into account a rational unified space,
but in terms of detail, it's incredibly realistic.
- [Steven] You can see that also
in the very sumptuous brocade worn by the angels.
Look at that gold stitched into that red velvet.
- [Beth] And the jewels that are embedded there.
- [Steven] This painting is filled
with other kinds of symbolic forms.
Note, for instance, the Corinthian column
just to the side of the Virgin Mary,
a symbol associated with Mary.
Look at the harp just above the doorway
in the church in the background.
This is a symbol that recalls King David
and speaks to Christ's ancestry.
Look at the three shepherds.
These are rough figures that have come
to pay homage to the newborn Christ.
They're represented with three really different approaches.
The lowest of the three seems to be
a representation of real piety.
The figure to his right, perhaps wonder.
And just above that, I figure that's just gawking.
- [Beth] And they're so different
than the rest of the figures in the painting,
who exhibit a tranquil nobility.
These figures seem deeply human.
- [Steven] Look at The care with which,
for instance, their hands have been painted.
Look at the foreshortening of the right hand
of the right-most figure.
It curves slightly, comes around towards us.
It's a perfect rendering of the human hand
which is such a complicated set of forms.
- [Beth] This whole painting, I think,
really problematizes our use of the word naturalism
or realism because in so many ways,
this is very naturalistic.
We have an illusion of a vast landscape
created with atmospheric perspective,
where the mountains turn blue
and fade into the distance.
We have the naturalism of the brocade,
of the flowers, of the hands of the figures.
And yet, that lack of that unified space
that we so expect of the Renaissance in Italy.
So this interesting coming together here
in the Uffizi, on one side of the gallery, Botticelli,
and on the other side, Hugo van der Goes.
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