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(b ?Ghent, ?c.1440; d Rode Klooster, nr. Brussels, 1482). Netherlandish painter, one of the greatest and most individual of his period. Nothing is known of his life before 1467, when he became a master in the painters' guild at Ghent. He had numerous commissions from the town of Ghent for work of a temporary nature such as processional banners, and in 1475 he became dean of the painters' guild. At about the same time he entered a monastery near Brussels as a lay brother, but he continued to paint and also to travel. In 1481 he suffered a mental breakdown (he had a tendency to acute depression) and although he recovered, died the following year. An account survives of his illness written by Gaspar Ofhuys, a monk at the monastery; Ofhuys was evidently jealous of Hugo and his report has been described by Erwin Panofsky as ‘a masterpiece of clinical accuracy and sanctimonious malice’.

Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)


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