Robert Campin - The Nativity (detail) - WGA14427

Robert Campin (1375–1444) was one of the earliest and greatest masters of Flemish painting. He has been identified with the Master of Flémalle on stylistic and other grounds. Characterized by a naturalistic conception of form and a poetic representation of the objects of daily life, Campin’s work marks a break with the prevailing International Gothic style and prefigures the achievements of Jan van Eyck and the painters of the Northern Renaissance.