Hugo van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes was one of the greatest Early Netherlandish painters. His figures are intensely real, with individual faces and strong emotion, and his colour is rich and deep.

He worked in Ghent, where he became master in the painters’ guild in 1467. In 1477 he entered the Red Cloister monastery near Brussels but continued to paint. His Portinari Altarpiece was commissioned by Tommaso Portinari, the Medici banker in Bruges, and sent to Florence, where its realistic shepherds impressed Italian painters. It is now in the Uffizi.

The Portinari Altarpiece is the work we paint. Look at the shepherds’ rough faces and the flowers in the foreground.