Robert Campin

Robert Campin (c. 1375 – 26 April 1444), now usually identified as the artist known as the Master of Flémalle, is usually considered the first great master of Flemish and Early Netherlandish painting. His identity and the attribution of the paintings in the "Campin group" has been a matter of controversy for decades. His life is relatively well documented for the period, but he did not sign his paintings, and none could be securely connected with him, whilst a corpus of work attached to the unidentified "Master of Flémalle".

By 1406 he was active in Tournai, in today's Belgium. His early work shows the influence of the International Gothic painters the Limbourg brothers (1385 – 1416) and Melchior Broederlam (c. 1350 – c.1409), but display a realistic observation than any earlier artists, which he achieved through innovations in the use of oil paints. He was successful in his lifetime, and the recipient of a number of civic commissions. Campin taught both Rogier van der Weyden and Jacques Daret. He was a contemporary of Jan van Eyck, and they met in 1427. Campin's best known work is the Mérode Altarpiece, dated c 1425-28, now in New York.

Campin first appears as settled in Tournai from the archives of 1405–6, as a free master of the guild of oldsmiths and painters, and there has been a lot of speculation about his origin and birthplace which is actually unknown, although he is sometimes listed as having been born in Valenciennes. In 1408 he had purchased the house that he had been leasing since 1406 near the Tournai Cathedral. In 1410 he bought into the full citizenship. Records show a large number of commissions from individuals and guilds, as well as from ecclesiastical and civic authorities. Campin owned several houses, purchased city bonds and invested in mortgages.

...
Wikipedia