Hugo van der Goes

Hugo van der Goes became a master in the Ghent painters' guild in 1467 and later served as its dean. His altarpieces combine monumental figures, rich colour and startlingly individual faces, above all the rough shepherds of the Portinari Triptych, which reached Florence in 1483 and impressed Italian painters. Around 1475 he entered the Rood Klooster near Brussels as a lay brother. There, not long before his death, he suffered a severe mental breakdown.