Transcript Jan van Eyck 1395-1441

Jan van Eyck
1395-1441
Kevin J. Benoy
Jan van Eyck
• Jan van Eyck lived and
worked in the Flemish
town of Bruges.
• His work was radically
new and was called Ars
Nova (new art).
• It is sometimes referred
to as late Northern
Gothic, and otherwise
called Northern
Renaissance.
Jan van Eyck
• Van Eyck worked for
Phillip, Duke of
Burgundy, who
appointed him court
painter.
• He also worked as a
Burgundian diplomat.
Phillip the Good, Duke of Burgundy
(by van der Weyden).
Jan van Eyck
• It appears that Jan
began his artistic
career working
alongside his brother,
Hubert.
• Manuscript
illumination and larger
works appear to have
been completed by
them together.
Illumination in the Turin-Milan
Hours – by the van Eyck brothers
Jan van Eyck
• Largest of their
works together was
the Ghent
Altarpiece.
• This is a multipanel work, a
polyptych.
• The outer panels
are shown to the
left.
Jan van Eyck
The work may have originally been housed in a rather more elaborate
massive, tiered tabernacle. `
Jan van Eyck
• The inner panels open
to show several small
images and the most
important element –
the Adoration of the
Lamb.
• It is suggested that
Hubert began this
work and that Jan
completed it.
Jan van Eyck
•This, like all other works by van Eyck, shows painstaking attention to the
tiniest details.
•Three dimensionality is achieved by the use of atmospheric perspective,
layering of colour and the scaling of people and objects according to where
they are in the landscape – but not the conscious use of mathematical
perspective.
Jan van Eyck
• Giorgio Vasari, the
biographer of renaissance
artists, began the myth
that Jan van Eyck created
oil paints.
• This is not the case, but he
mastered them better than
anyone before him, using
the fast-drying medium to
great effect as he layered
the colours and took
advantage of their sheen to
create luminous effects.
Virgin & Child in a Church
Jan van Eyck
• Van Eyck’s fanatical attention to
microscopic detail should not be
seen as a kind of substitute for
photography – which was still
several centuries away.
• Rather, the details are carefully
collected and positioned to
infuse his paintings with
symbolic meaning – called
“disguised symbolism” by
Erwin Panofsky.
• Note the position of the patron
in this work, the Virgin of
Chancellor Rolin.
Jan van Eyck
• In the Annunciation, the dark
upper church is illuminated by a
single window depicting God the
Father, and three bright windows,
lower, representing the Trinity.
• Even the floor tiles reveal
meaningful detail – as David is
shown slaying Goliath (with the
Philistine giant representing the
futile power of the Devil. Mary
will overcome the Devil by
bearing the Christ child.
Jan van Eyck
• Nowhere is his
attention to detail and
to symbolism more
apparent than in a
small work found in
London’s National
Gallery – the Arnolfini
Wedding.
Jan van Eyck
• Not all is as it appears.
• This is probably a
betrothal or a wedding
picture – and the
inscription on the back
wall, above the mirror
clearly indicates that
Jan van Eyck was
present – it says “Jan
van Eyck was here.
1434”
Jan van Eyck
• The mirror also reveals
two male figures facing
the couple – the artist and
a priest.
• Surrounding the mirror are
10 tiny images of the
passion of Christ –
symbolizing the promise
of salvation for those
shown in the mirror.
Jan van Eyck
• Further symbols include the positioning of
Arnolfini and his wife, with him near the window
– the outside world (also symbolized by his clogs)
-- and she in the interior world of the home.
• The cherry trees outside may symbolize love, the
little dog fidelity, the green dress symbolizing
hope, the red bed-coverings represent passion, the
single lit candle the presence of the Holy Spirit,
the carved figure of Saint Margaret points to the
hope of a pregnancy (Cenami may look pregnant
but is not so – this is the fashion of the time).
Jan van Eyck
• Everything in this dual portrait
signifies the great wealth and
importance of the elaborately and
expensively clothed principal figures.
This is a reception room, not a
bedroom, so the great bed that so
dominates it is a show of wealth. The
enormous metal chandelier and the
oriental carpet are similar ostentatious
displays. Even the fruit on the
windowsill speaks of great wealth.
• This is an image of the alliance of two
great Italian banking houses. Perhaps
the image was to be sent back to Italy
to prove their prosperity to family
back home.
Jan van Eyck
• Without a doubt, Jan
van Eyck was the
greatest genius of the
Northern Renaissance.
• His religious works
and his portraiture
reveal him to be a man
of unparalleled powers
of observation.
Man in a Red Turban, probably a
self portrait.
finis