GEERTGEN TOT SINT JANS

born c. 1465 died c. 1495 Dutch painter of religious subjects, notable for his harmonious fusion of the elements of the landscape. Little is known of Geertgen's life: his surname derived from his living with the religious order of the Knights of St. John at Haarlem, Neth., where he was a pupil of the painter Ouwater at Haarlem. Many of his works have been destroyed, but portions of his masterpiece, a large triptych for the high altar of the Knights of St. John, survive. One wing, preserved in the Vienna gallery of painting and fine arts, presages the great portrait groups of 17th-century Dutch painting. Several other paintings are ascribed to Geertgen on stylistic grounds, such as St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness and Virgin and Child in Berlin, The Resurrection of Lazarus in the Louvre (Paris), The Virgin's Kindred and Adoration of the Magi in Amsterdam, The Man of Sorrows at Utrecht, and a triptych in Prague. His Nativity in the National Gallery, London, is a night scene remarkable for its rendering of chiaroscuro.