Melchior Broederlam

Born in Ypres around 1350, Broederlam was one of the earliest Early Netherlandish painters with surviving works confidently attributed to him, active in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.¹

Serving Philip the Bold from 1384, he was appointed valet de chambre in 1387 and court painter in 1391, a high status later held by Jan van Eyck.¹

His only surviving certain works are the altarpiece wings for the Charterhouse of Champmol, completed in 1399 and now held in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon.¹

By combining Romanesque and Gothic architecture, he visually symbolized the contrast between the Old and New Testaments, a metaphor later refined by Van Eyck.¹

Collaborating with sculptor Jacques de Baerze, he gilded and painted carved figures, a high-quality courtly cooperation that often bypassed strict guild rules.¹