Jan van Eyck (Maaseik, 1390 circa – Bruges, giugno 1441) è stato un pittore fiammingo.
Fu un artista di fama internazionale e il suo stile, incentrato su una resa analitica della realtà, ebbe un larghissimo influsso. Fu anche il perfezionatore della tecnica della pittura ad olio, che gradualmente sostituì in Europa l'uso del colore a tempera.
La vita
Nonostante sia considerato il capostipite della pittura nei Paesi Bassi nel Quattrocento ed il maggior pittore nord europeo del suo tempo, le notizie certe riguardanti la sua vita sono ancora molto scarse, inclusi il luogo e la data di nascita esatti. Jan van Eyck nacque in una data compresa fra il 1390 e il 1400 quasi sicuramente a Maaseik che all'epoca faceva parte dei possedimenti del ducato di Borgogna e a introdurlo nel mondo della pittura dovrebbe essere stato il fratello maggiore, il misterioso Hubert, anche se parte della critica dubita della sua esistenza[senza fonte], visto che di lui esistono solo due riferimenti: il primo sul più volte smontato e rimontato Polittico dell'Agnello Mistico e l'altro su una pietra tombale dalla distrutta abbazia di San Bavone a Gand. Nulla sappiamo sulla formazione dell'artista, nemmeno se essa si svolse in Francia o nella terra di origine.
Probabilmente la sua formazione fu nel campo della miniatura, dalla quale imparò l'amore per i dettagli minuti e per la tecnica raffinata, che si riflesse anche nelle opere pittoriche.
Le prime informazioni che si hanno sul conto di Van Eyck risalgono quindi al periodo che va dall'ottobre 1422 al settembre 1424, quando il pittore si trovava all'Aia alla corte di Giovanni di Baviera, conte d'Olanda. Tutta la sua carriera restò legata ai poteri ufficiali delle Fiandre. L'anno successivo infatti divenne pittore di corte del duca di Borgogna Filippo il Buono, ruolo che ricoprì fino alla morte. Per conto di Filippo compì anche numerose missioni diplomatiche: si recò infatti a Lisbona (nel 1428) per concordare le nozze del duca con Isabella di Portogallo, alla quale fece successivamente un ritratto. Tra il 1426 e il 1432 lavorò al suo capolavoro, il Polittico di Gand.
Dopo aver abitato per qualche tempo nella città francese di Lilla, nel 1432 si trasferì definitivamente a Bruges, dove trascorse il resto della sua vita e morì ancora in giovane età nel giugno 1441, come testimoniano gli incartamenti relativi al suo funerale custoditi nell'archivio della cattedrale di San Salvatore.
La sua arte ebbe una portata rivoluzionaria al pari di quella di Masaccio in Italia, la cui opera fu cronologicamente parallela e con alcuni punti di contatto esteriori. Sia per Van Eyck che per Masaccio la pittura doveva superare le convenzioni del tardogotico in nome di una concezione "naturalistica" ricondotta alla rappresentazione più verosimile legata alla percezione visiva e all'indagine scientifica della realtà.
La tecnica e lo stile
Tra le caratteristiche più evidenti dello stile di Jan van Eyck ci sono l'altissima qualità pittorica, sicuramente la più alta tra i pittori fiamminghi del secolo XV, la verosimiglianza, la perfezione formale, l'attenzione al dettaglio minuto ed alla resa delle superfici, lo studio della luce, lo spazio dove si collocano con sicurezza le figure, lo ieratismo e l'immobilità dei personaggi, i raffinati giochi intellettuali dati dai vari livelli di lettura delle opere. Con Van Eyck si aprì una nuova era anche dal punto di vista della tecnica pittorica. Egli utilizzò i colori ad olio (già conosciuti e utilizzati sin dall'antichità), accanto a tradizionali tempere e a colori di colla animale. Caratteristica fondamentale della sua tecnica, tuttora non interamente conosciuta, è il ricorso ad una serie di strati sottili di colore - velature - stesi uno sopra l'altro su una base chiara e luminosa al fine di raggiungere progressivamente il risultato d'assieme finale (tecnica sottrattiva); le innovazioni da lui introdotte potrebbero riferirsi all'utilizzo di oli cotti misti a resine nonché di oli schiariti e pre-polimerizzati. Jan van Eyck fu ritenuto a lungo ed erroneamente lo scopritore della pittura ad olio.
Gli esordi
I suoi primi passi si mossero nel mondo della miniatura, all'epoca dominata dalla tradizione tardogotica francese, nel solco della quale Van Eyck impostò i suoi primi passi. Tra le opere della giovinezza spiccano le miniature delle cosiddette Ore di Torino (1422-1424), eseguite all'Aia per Giovanni di Baviera, prima di entrare al servizio di Filippo III di Borgogna nel 1425. Nei migliori fogli del libro miniato le figure sono già pienamente integrate in uno spazio realistico, con una luce che unifica la rappresentazione e delinea con grande precisione i dettagli minuti della stanza e delle occupazioni dei personaggi. È chiaro che Van Eyck si poneva, come Masaccio, il problema della realtà: ma se l'italiano operava una sintesi che coglieva la sola essenza delle cose, preoccupandosi di collocarle in uno spazio prospetticamente unitario e razionale, il fiammingo procedeva invece analizzando con lucidità e attenzione i singoli oggetti come si presentano ai nostri sensi.
Le opere della maturità
Crocifissione e Giudizio finale
Le sue opere più famose risalgono quasi tutte al periodo in cui viveva a Bruges, mentre più scarse sono le testimonianze relative al suo soggiorno olandese; tra le prime opere conosciute del pittore vi sono le due tavole raffiguranti la Crocifissione e il Giudizio finale, eseguite intorno al 1430 e forse facenti parte di un polittico smembrato oppure unite insieme a formare un dittico. Lo spazio della Crocifissione è organizzato secondo un punto di vista rialzato che aumenta il senso di profondità; ai piedi delle croci è riunita una gran folla di personaggi in cui si vedono soldati e dignitari di corte ritratti con impassibile distacco, contrapposto alla disperazione della Vergine inginocchiata in primo piano ed avvolta in un largo abito celeste che lascia scoperto soltanto il volto. Il senso di drammaticità è accentuato dalla posizione del ladro sulla destra raffigurato con il corpo piegato sulla croce, come nel tentativo estremo di liberarsi dalle corde, mentre il cielo plumbeo annuncia l'imminente morte del Cristo; la città che si vede sullo sfondo, con i suoi numerosi edifici che ricordano le costruzioni fiamminghe del tempo, rappresenta la Gerusalemme celeste.
La tavola con il Giudizio finale è invece costruita secondo un modello di derivazione medievale, con una disposizione su tre piani e con le figure di grandezza diversa a seconda del loro grado d'importanza; in alto si trova il Cristo circondato da angeli che reggono gli strumenti della Passione, dalla Madonna e San Giovanni e sotto i 12 apostoli affiancati da santi e beati. Nella parte inferiore del dipinto si vedono i morti che emergono dalla terra e dal mare in attesa del giudizio con l'arcangelo Michele che sovrasta lo scheletro della Morte raffigurato con ali da pipistrello usate per delimitare lo spazio degli inferi dove i dannati vengono scaraventati in preda a terribili mostri che ne straziano i corpi. La tavola contiene anche delle iscrizioni destinate alla corretta interpretazione delle immagini conferendo una funzione di erudizione all'opera che forse era destinata ad una persona istruita, in grado perciò di leggerla e di comprenderne il significato.
Polittico di Gand
Al 1432 viene datato il completamento del monumentale polittico di Gand, realizzato per la chiesa di San Bavone e presumibilmente iniziato dal fratello Hubert morto, come conferma l'iscrizione presente sulla cornice esterna del dipinto. Esso è costituito da 12 pannelli, disposti su due registri, uno superiore e uno inferiore; al centro del registro superiore si trova il Dio Padre, con ai lati la Vergine e San Giovanni Battista, mentre a sinistra si trovano gli Angeli cantori e Adamo a destra gli Angeli musici e Eva. Nel registro inferiore si può ammirare la grande tavola centrale con l'Adorazione dell'agnello mistico, affiancata da due scomparti laterali con i Cavalieri di Cristo e i Giudici integri (a sinistra) e gli Eremiti e i pellegrini (a destra).
La critica sembra oggi propensa ad attribuire a Hubert la concezione ed in parte l'esecuzione della tavola con l'Adorazione e delle tre tavole sovrastanti, mentre tutto il resto venne eseguito da Jan che vi lavorò a fasi alterne, ciò spiegherebbe l'evidente carattere di disomogeneità tra i vari scomparti, che per essere pienamente apprezzati devono essere analizzati singolarmente. In quest'opera compaiono comunque quelli che diverranno i caratteri tipici della pittura di Van Eyck: naturalismo analitico, uso di colori luminosi, cura per la resa del paesaggio e grande lirismo, tutti elementi che si ripresenteranno anche nei dipinti eseguiti a pochi anni di distanza dal polittico di Gand.
Al 1433 vengono fatti risalire la Madonna con Bambino, detta di Ince Hall ed il ritratto dell'Uomo con il turbante rosso, da alcuni considerato come l'autoritratto del pittore che vi appose la sua firma e la data di esecuzione (21 ottobre 1433) ed il motto fiammingo divenuto famoso: «Come posso, non come vorrei». Lo sfondo scuro esalta le sembianze dell'uomo che indossa un voluminoso copricapo, su cui cade inevitabilmente lo sguardo dello spettatore che ammira la stupefacente abilità nel rendere le pieghe del panneggio attraverso il contrasto tra luci ed ombre.
Ritratto dei coniugi Arnolfini
L'opera più conosciuta di Van Eyck resta il celebre Ritratto dei coniugi Arnolfini realizzato nel 1434. Sul significato del duplice ritratto e dei numerosi simboli che il pittore aggiunse, vanno senz'altro menzionati il particolare dello specchio in cui sono riflessi il pittore stesso e un altro personaggio in qualità di testimoni dell'evento; le luci e le ombre, rispettivamente, sulle arance da un lato e su coperta e baldacchino dall'altro; i volti dei coniugi, imperscrutabili, quasi rapiti da un'atmosfera intrisa di spiritualità; la raffinata torciera da cui scintilla, però, una sola candela; lo specchio che ospita, nei tondelli incisi nella cornice, dieci storie della Passione; il gesto della mano sinistra della sposa che allude al ventre.
Secondo l'interpretazione tradizionale, il quadro celebrava il matrimonio tra il mercante lucchese Giovanni Arnolfini, da oltre un decennio stabilitosi a Bruges, e Giovanna Cenami.
Madonna del cancelliere Rolin
La Madonna del cancelliere Rolin venne eseguita tra il 1434 ed il 1435 e oggi si trova al Louvre di Parigi; molti la mettono in relazione con la pace di Arras stipulata nel 1435. La scena si svolge all'interno di un ambiente chiuso ma con un'ampia arcata di fondo che crea un complesso gioco di luci ed ombre. Le due figure principali, la Vergine ed il donatore, sono perfettamente bilanciate e disposti l'una di fronte all'altro; l'abito del cancelliere in adorazione è decorato con preziosi ricami, mentre il Bambino tiene in mano un monile luminescente e la Vergine è vestita con un lungo abito rosso sul quale sono ricamate in lettere d'oro i passi dell'ufficio mattutino recitato durante la messa celebrata davanti al cancelliere.
Le arcate lasciano intravedere la veduta di una città fluviale riprodotta in ogni suo dettaglio: gli edifici, le strade e persino i suoi minuscoli abitanti. Questa minuzia descrittiva nella composizione contribuiva alla sua visione d'insieme ed era considerata come la soluzione ideale per combinare la raffigurazione di un interno con un paesaggio aperto sullo sfondo.
Trittico di Dresda
Nel Trittico di Dresda, invece, la tavola centrale raffigura la Madonna in trono con il Bambino e sui pannelli laterali si vedono San Michele con il donatore a sinistra e Santa Caterina a destra; la cornice è ancora quella originale e sul lato esterno degli sportelli si può vedere un'Annunciazione dipinta a grisaille.
Ultime opere
All'ultimo periodo di attività del pittore sono da riferirsi la Madonna col Bambino alla fontana (opera firmata e datata nel 1439, custodita al museo Nazionale di Anversa) e quella che è conosciuta come la Madonna di Lucca.
Curiosità
- L'asteroide 9561 van Eyck porta il suo nome.
Jan van Eyck (/væn ˈaɪk/ van EYEK, Dutch: [ˈjɑn vɑn ˈɛik]; c. before 1390 – 9 July 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. According to Vasari and other art historians including Ernst Gombrich, he invented oil painting, though most now regard that as an over-simplification.
The surviving records indicate that he was born around 1380–1390, most likely in Maaseik (then Maaseyck, hence his name), in present-day Belgium. He took employment in The Hague around 1422 when he was already a master painter with workshop assistants, and was employed as painter and valet de chambre with John III the Pitiless, ruler of Holland and Hainaut. After John's death in 1425, he was later appointed as court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, working in Lille until he moved to Bruges in 1429 where he lived until his death. He was highly regarded by Philip and undertook a number of diplomatic visits abroad, including to Lisbon in 1428 to explore the possibility of a marriage contract between the duke and Isabella of Portugal.
About 20 surviving paintings are confidently attributed to him, as well as the Ghent Altarpiece and the illuminated miniatures of the Turin-Milan Hours, all dated between 1432 and 1439. Ten are dated and signed with a variation of his motto ALS ICH KAN (As I (Eyck) can), a pun on his name, which he typically painted in Greek characters.
Van Eyck painted both secular and religious subject matter,
including altarpieces, single-panel religious figures and commissioned
portraits. His work includes single panels, diptychs,
triptychs, and polyptych panels. He was well paid by Philip, who sought
that the painter was secure financially and had artistic freedom so
that he could paint "whenever he pleased". Van Eyck's work comes from the International Gothic
style, but he soon eclipsed it, in part through a greater emphasis on
naturalism and realism. He achieved a new level of virtuosity through
his developments in the use of oil paint. He was highly influential, and his techniques and style were adopted and refined by the Early Netherlandish painters.
Life and career
Early life
Little is known of Jan van Eyck's early life and neither the date nor place of his birth is documented. The first extant record of his life comes from the court of John of Bavaria at The Hague where, between 1422 and 1424, payments were made to Meyster Jan den malre (Master Jan the painter) who was then a court painter with the rank of valet de chambre, with at first one and then two assistants. This suggests a date of birth of 1395 at the latest. However, his apparent age in the London probable self-portrait of 1433 suggests to most scholars a date closer to 1380. He was identified in the late 16th century as having been born in Maaseik, a borough of the prince-bishopric of Liège. His last name however is related to the place Bergeijk, due to genealogical information related to the coat-of-arms with three millrinds; that information also implies that he stems from the Lords of Rode (Sint-Oedenrode). Elisabeth Dhanens rediscovered in the quarterly state "the fatherly blazon, in gold, three millrinds of lauric acid", similar to other families that descend from the Lords of Rode in the quarter of Peelland in the 'meierij van's-Hertogenbosch'. His daughter Lievine was in a nunnery in Maaseik after her father's death. The notes on his preparatory drawing for Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati are written in the Maasland dialect.
He had a sister Margareta, and at least two brothers, Hubert (died 1426), with whom he probably served his apprenticeship and Lambert (active between 1431 and 1442), both also painters, but the order of their births has not been established. Another significant, and rather younger, painter who worked in Southern France, Barthélemy van Eyck, is presumed to be a relation. It is not known where Jan was educated, but he had knowledge of Latin and used the Greek and Hebrew alphabets in his inscriptions, indicating that he was schooled in the classics. This level of education was rare among painters, and would have made him more attractive to the cultivated Philip.
Court painter
Van Eyck served as official to John of Bavaria-Straubing, ruler of Holland, Hainault and Zeeland. By this time he had assembled a small workshop and was involved in redecorating the Binnenhof palace in The Hague. After John's death in 1425 he moved to Bruges and came to the attention of Philip the Good c. 1425. His emergence as a collectable painter generally follows his appointment to Philip's court, and from this point his activity in the court is comparatively well documented. He served as court artist and diplomat, and was a senior member of the Tournai painters' guild. On 18 October 1427, the Feast of St. Luke, he travelled to Tournai to attend a banquet in his honour, also attended by Robert Campin and Rogier van der Weyden.
A court salary freed him from commissioned work, and allowed a large degree of artistic freedom. Over the following decade van Eyck's reputation and technical ability grew, mostly from his innovative approaches towards the handling and manipulating of oil paint. Unlike most of his peers, his reputation never diminished and he remained well regarded over the following centuries. His revolutionary approach to oil was such that a myth, perpetuated by Giorgio Vasari, arose that he had invented oil painting.
His brother Hubert van Eyck collaborated on Jan's most famous works, the Ghent Altarpiece, generally art historians believe it was begun c. 1420 by Hubert and completed by Jan in 1432. Another brother, Lambert, is mentioned in Burgundian court documents, and may have overseen his brother's workshop after Jan's death.
Maturity and success
Considered revolutionary within his lifetime, van Eyck's designs and methods were heavily copied and reproduced. His motto, one of the first and still most distinctive signatures in art history, ALS ICH KAN ("AS I CAN"), a pun on his name, first appeared in 1433 on Portrait of a Man in a Turban, which can be seen as indicative of his emerging self-confidence at the time. The years between 1434 and 1436 are generally considered his high point when he produced works including the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, Lucca Madonna and Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele.
Around 1432, he married Margaret who was 15 years younger. At about the same time he bought a house in Bruges; Margaret is unmentioned before he relocated, when the first of their two children was born in 1434. Very little is known of Margaret; even her maiden name is lost – contemporary records refer to her mainly as Damoiselle Marguerite. She may have been of aristocratic birth, though from the lower nobility, evidenced from her clothes in the portrait which are fashionable but not of the sumptuousness worn by the bride in the Arnolfini Portrait. Later, as the widow of a renowned painter Margaret was afforded a modest pension by the city of Bruges after Jan's death. At least some of this income was invested in lottery.
Van Eyck undertook a number of journeys on Philip the Duke of Burgundy's behalf between 1426 and 1429, described in records as "secret" commissions, for which he was paid multiples of his annual salary. Their precise nature is still unknown, but they seem to involve his acting as envoy of the court. In 1426 he departed for "certain distant lands", possibly to the Holy Land, a theory given weight by the topographical accuracy of Jerusalem in The Three Marys at the Tomb, a painting completed by members of his workshop c. 1440.
A better documented commission was the journey to Lisbon along with a group intended to prepare the ground for the Duke's wedding to Isabella of Portugal. Van Eyck's was tasked with painting the bride, so that the Duke could visualise her before their marriage. Because Portugal was ridden with plague, their court was itinerant and the Dutch party met them at the out-of-the-way castle of Avis. Van Eyck spent nine months there, returning to the Netherlands with Isabella as a bride to be; the couple married on Christmas Day of 1429. The princess was probably not particularly attractive, and that is exactly how Van Eyck conveyed her in the now lost portrait. Typically he showed his sitters as dignified, yet did not hide their imperfections. After his return, he was preoccupied with completing the Ghent Altarpiece, which was consecrated on 6 May 1432 at Saint Bavo Cathedral during an official ceremony for Philip. Records from 1437 say that he was held in high esteem by the upper ranks of Burgundian nobility and was employed in foreign commissions.
Death and legacy
Jan van Eyck died on 9 July 1441, in Bruges. He was buried in the graveyard of the Church of St Donatian. As a mark of respect, Philip made a one-off payment to Jan's widow Margaret, to a value equal to the artist's annual salary. He left behind many unfinished works to be completed by his workshop journeymen. After his death, Lambert van Eyck ran the workshop, as Jan's reputation and stature steadily grew. Early in 1442 Lambert had the body exhumed and placed inside St. Donatian's Cathedral.
In 1449 he was mentioned by the Italian humanist and antiquarian Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli as a painter of note and ability, and was recorded by Bartolomeo Facio in 1456.
Works
Jan van Eyck produced paintings for private clients in addition to his work at the court. Foremost among these is the Ghent Altarpiece painted for the merchant, financier and politician Jodocus Vijdts and his wife Elisabeth Borluut. Started sometime before 1426 and completed by 1432, the polyptych is seen as representing "the final conquest of reality in the North", differing from the great works of the Early Renaissance in Italy by virtue of its willingness to forgo classical idealisation in favor of the faithful observation of nature.
Even though it may be assumed – given the demand and fashion – that he produced a number of triptychs, only the Dresden altarpiece survives, although a number of extant portraits may be wings of dismantled polyptychs. Telltale signs are hinges on original frames, the sitter's orientation, and praying hands or the inclusion of iconographical elements in an otherwise seemingly secular portrait.
About 20 surviving paintings are confidently attributed to him, all dated between 1432 and 1439. Ten, including the Ghent Altarpiece, are dated and signed with a variation of his motto, ALS ICH KAN. In 1998 Holland Cotter estimated that "only two dozen or so paintings...attributed...with varying degrees of confidence, along with some drawings and a few pages from...the Turin-Milan Hours". He described the "complex relationship and tension between art historians and holding museums in assigning authorship. Of the 40 or so works considered originals in the mid 80s, around ten are now vigorously contested by leading researchers as workshop".
Turin-Milan Hours: Hand G
Since 1901 Jan van Eyck has often been credited as the anonymous artist known as Hand G of the Turin-Milan Hours. If this is correct, the Turin illustrations are the only known works from his early period; according to Thomas Kren the earlier dates for Hand G precede any known panel painting in an Eyckian style, which "raise[s] provocative questions about the role that manuscript illumination may have played in the vaunted verisimilitude of Eyckian oil painting".
The evidence for attributing van Eyck rests on part on the fact that although the figures are mostly of the International Gothic type, they reappear in some of his later work. In addition, there are coats of arms connected with the Wittelsbach family with whom he had connections in the Hague, while some of the figures in the miniatures echo the horsemen in the Ghent Altarpiece.
Most of the Turin-Milan Hours were destroyed by fire in 1904 and survive only in photographs and copies; only three pages at most attributed to Hand G now survive, those with large miniatures of the Birth of John the Baptist, the Finding of the True Cross and the Office of the Dead (or Requiem Mass), with the bas-de-page miniatures and initials of the first and last of these[C] The Office of the Dead is often seen as recalling Jan's 1438–1440 Madonna in the Church. Four more were lost in 1904: all the elements of the pages with the miniatures called The Prayer on the Shore (or Duke William of Bavaria at the Seashore, the Sovereign's prayer etc.), and the night-scene of the Betrayal of Christ (which was already described by Durrieu as "worn" before the fire), the Coronation of the Virgin and its bas-de-page, and the large picture only of the seascape Voyage of St Julian & St Martha.[D]
Marian iconography
Except the 'Ghent Altarpiece,' Van Eyck's religious works feature the Virgin Mary as the central figure. She is typically seated, wearing a jewel-studded crown, cradling a playful child Christ who gazes at her and grips the hem of her dress in a manner that recalls the 13th-century Byzantine tradition of the Eleusa icon (Virgin of Tenderness). She is sometimes shown reading a Book of Hours. She usually wears red. In the 1432 Ghent Altarpiece Mary wears a crown adorned with flowers and stars. She is dressed as a bride, and reads from a girdle book draped with green cloth, perhaps an element borrowed from Robert Campin's Virgin Annunciate. The panel contains a number of motifs that later reappear in later works; she is already Queen of Heaven, wearing a crown adorned with flowers and stars. Van Eyck usually presents Mary as an apparition before a donor kneeling in prayer to the side. The idea of a saint appearing before a layperson was common in Northern donor portraits of the period. In Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele (1434–1436), the Canon seems to have just paused momentarily to reflect on a passage from his hand-held bible as the Virgin and Child with two saints appear before him, as if embodiments of his prayer.
Mary's role in his works should be viewed in the context of the contemporary cult and veneration surrounding her. In the early 15th century Mary grew in importance as an intercessor between the divine and members of the Christian faith. The concept of purgatory as an intermediary state that each soul had to pass through before admission to heaven was at its height. Prayer was the most obvious means of decreasing time in limbo, while the wealthy could commission new churches, extensions to existing ones, or devotional portraits. At the same time, there was a trend towards the sponsorship of requiem masses, often as part of the terms of a will, a practice that Joris van der Paele actively sponsored. With this income he endowed the churches with embroidered cloths and metal accessories such as chalices, plates and candlesticks
Eyck usually gives Mary three roles: Mother of Christ; the personification of the "Ecclesia Triumphans"; or Queen of Heaven.
The idea of Mary as a metaphor for the Church itself is especially strong in his later paintings. In Madonna in the Church she dominates the cathedral; her head is almost level with the approximately sixty feet high gallery. Art historian Otto Pächt describes the interior of the panel as a "throne room" which envelops her as if a "carrying case". This distortion of scale is found in a number of other of his Madonna paintings, including Annunciation. Her monumental stature borrows from the works of 12th- and 13th-century Italian artists such as Cimabue and Giotto, who in turn reflect a tradition reaching back to an Italo-Byzantine type and emphasises her identification with the cathedral itself. Art historians in the 19th century thought the work was executed early in van Eyck's career and attributed her scale as the mistake of a relatively immature painter. The idea that her size represents her embodiment as the church was first suggested by Erwin Panofsky in 1941. Till-Holger Borchert says that van Eyck did not paint "the Madonna in a church", but as "the Church".
Van Eyck's later works contain very precise and detailed
architectural details, but are not modeled on actual historical
buildings. He probably sought to create an ideal and perfect space for
Mary's apparition, and was more concerned with their visual impact rather than physical possibility.
The Marian paintings are characterized by complex depictions of both physical space and light sources. Many of van Eyck's religious works contain a reduced interior space that is nonetheless subtly managed and arranged to convey a sense of intimacy without feeling constricted. The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin is lit from both from the central portico and side windows, while the floor-tiles in comparison to other elements shows that the figures are only about six feet from the columned loggia screen, and that Rolin might have had to squeeze himself through the opening to get out that way. The different elements of the cathedral in Madonna in the Church are so specifically detailed, and the elements of Gothic and contemporary architecture so well delineated, that many art and architecture historians have concluded that he must have had enough architectural knowledge to make nuanced distinctions. Given the accuracy of the descriptions, many scholars have tried to link the painting with particular buildings. But in all the buildings in van Eyck's work, the structure is imagined and probably an idealized formation of what he viewed as a perfect architectural space. This can be seen from the many examples of features that would be unlikely in a contemporary church, including the placing of a round arched triforium above a pointed colonnade in the Berlin work.
The Marian works are heavily lined with inscriptions. The lettering on the arched throne above Mary in the Ghent Altarpiece is taken from a passage from the Book of Wisdom (7:29): "She is more beautiful than the sun and the army of the stars; compared to the light she is superior. She is truly the reflection of eternal light and a spotless mirror of God" Wording from the same source on the hem of her robe, on the frame of Madonna in the Church and on her dress in Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele, reads EST ENIM HAEC SPECIOSIOR SOLE ET SUPER OMNEM STELLARUM DISPOSITIONEM. LUCI CONPARATA INVENITUR PRIOR Although inscriptions are present in all of van Eyck's paintings, they are predominant in his Marian paintings, where they seem to serve a number of functions. They breathe life into portraits and give voice to those venerating Mary but also play a functional role; given that contemporary religious works were commissioned for private devotion, the inscriptions may have been intended to be read as an incantation or personalized indulgence prayers. Harbison notes that van Eyck's privately commissioned works are unusually heavily inscribed with prayer, and that the words may have served a similar function to prayer tablets, or more properly "Prayer Wings", as seen in the London Virgin and Child triptych.
Secular portraits
Van Eyck was highly sought after as a portrait artist. Growing affluence across northern Europe meant that portraiture was no longer the preserve of royalty or the high aristocracy. An emerging merchant middle class and growing awareness of humanist ideas of individual identity led to a demand for portraits.
Van Eyck's portraits are characterized by his manipulation of oil
paint and meticulous attention to detail; his keen powers of
observation and his tendency to apply layers of thin translucent glazes
to create intensity of color and tone. He pioneered portraiture during
the 1430s and was admired as far away as Italy for the naturalness of
his depictions. Today, nine three-quarters view portraits are attributed to him. His style was widely adopted, most notably by van der Weyden, Petrus Christus and Hans Memling.
The small Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon of c. 1430 is his earliest surviving portrait. It evidences many of the elements that were to become standard in his portraiture style, including the three-quarters view (a type he revived from antiquity which soon spread across Europe), directional lighting, elaborate headdress, and for the single portraits, the framing of the figure within an undefined narrow space, set against a flat black background. It is noted for its realism and acute observation of the small details of the sitter's appearance; the man has a light beard of one or two days' growth, a reoccurring feature in van Eyck's early male portraits, where the sitter is often either unshaven, or according to Lorne Campbell "rather inefficiently shaved". Campbell lists other van Eyck unshaven sitters; Niccolò Albergati (1431), Jodocus Vijdt (1432), Jan van Eyck? (1433), Joris van der Paele (c. 1434–1436), Nicolas Rolin (1435) and Jan de Leeuw (1436).
Notes made on the reverse of his paper study for the Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati
provide insight into Eyck's approach to minute detaing of his sitter'
faces. Of his detailing of beard growth he wrote, "die stoppelen vanden
barde wal grijsachtig" (the stubble of the beard grizzled).
On the other aspects of his attempts to record the old man's face he
noted, "the iris of the eye, near the back of the pupil, brownish
yellow. On the contours next to the white, bluish ... the white also
yellowish ..."
The Léal Souvenir portrait of 1432 continues the adherence to realism and acute observation of the small details of the sitter's appearance. However, by his later works, the sitter placed at more of a distance, and the attention to detail less marked. The descriptions are less forensic, more of an overview, while the forms are broader and flatter. Even in his early works, his descriptions of the model are not faithful reproductions; parts of the sitters face or form were altered to either present a better composition or fit an ideal. He often altered the relative proportions of his models' head and body to focus on the elements of their features that interested him. This led him to distort reality in this paintings; in the portrait of his wife he altered the angle of her nose, and gave her a fashionably high forehead that nature had not.
The stone parapet at the base of the canvas of Léal Souvenir is painted as if to simulate marked or scarred stone and contains three separate layers of inscriptions, each rendered in an illusionistic manner, giving the impression they are chiseled onto stone. van Eyck often set the inscriptions as if in the sitters voice, so that they "appear to be speaking". Examples include the Portrait of Jan de Leeuw which reads ... Jan de [Leeuw], who first opened his eyes on the Feast of St Ursula [21 October], 1401. Now Jan van Eyck has painted me, you can see when he began it. 1436. In Portrait of Margaret van Eyck of 1439 the lettering acclaims My husband Johannes completed me in the year 1439 on 17 June, at the age of 33. As I can.
Hands play a special significance in van Eyck's painting. In his early portraits the sitters are often shown holding objects indicative of their profession. The man in Léal Souvenir may have been a legal professional as he holds a scroll resembling a legal document.
The Arnolfini Portrait of 1432 is filled with illusionism and symbolism, as is the 1435 Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, commissioned to display Rolin's power, influence and piety.
Style
Iconography
Van Eyck incorporated a wide variety of iconographic elements, often conveying what he saw as a co-existence of the spiritual and material worlds. The iconography was embedded in the work unobtrusively; typically the references comprised small but key background details. His use of symbolism and biblical references is characteristic of his work, a handling of religious iconography he pioneered, with his innovations taken up and developed by van der Weyden, Memling and Christus. Each employed rich and complex iconographical elements to create a heightened sense of contemporary beliefs and spiritual ideals.
Craig Harbison describes the blending of realism and symbolism as perhaps "the most important aspect of early Flemish art". The embedded symbols were meant to meld into the scenes and "was a deliberate strategy to create an experience of spiritual revelation". Van Eyck's religious paintings in particular "always present the spectator with a transfigured view of visible reality". To him the day-to-day is harmoniously steeped in symbolism, such that, according to Harbison, "descriptive data were rearranged ... so that they illustrated not earthly existence but what he considered supernatural truth." This blend of the earthly and heavenly evidences van Eyck's belief that the "essential truth of Christian doctrine" can be found in "the marriage of secular and sacred worlds, of reality and symbol". He depicts overly large Madonnas, whose unrealistic size shows the separation between the heavenly from earthly, but placed them in everyday settings such as churches, domestic chambers or seated with court officials.
Yet the earthly churches are heavily decorated with heavenly symbols. A heavenly throne is clearly represented in some domestic chambers (for example in the Lucca Madonna). More difficult to discern are the settings for paintings such as Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, where the location is a fusion of the earthly and celestial. Van Eyck's iconography is often so densely and intricately layered that a work has to be viewed multiple times before even the most obvious meaning of an element is apparent. The symbols were often subtly woven into the paintings so that they only became apparent after close and repeated viewing, while much of the iconography reflects the idea that, according to John Ward, there is a "promised passage from sin and death to salvation and rebirth".
Signature
Van Eyck was the only 15th-century Netherlandish painter to sign his canvases. His motto always contained variants of the words ALS ICH KAN (or a variant) – "As I Can", or "As Best I Can", which forms a pun on his name. The aspirated "ICH" instead of the Brabantian "IK" is derived from his native Limburgish. The signature is sometimes inscribed using Greek lettering such as AAE IXH XAN. The word Kan derives from the Middle Dutch word kunnen related to the Dutch word kunst or to the German Kunst ("art").
The words may be related to a type of formula of modesty sometimes seen in medieval literature, where the writer prefaces his work with an apology for a lack of perfection, although, given the typical lavishness of the signatures and mottos, it may merely be a playful reference. Indeed, his motto is sometimes recorded in a manner intended to mimic Christ's monogram IHC XPC, for example in his c 1440 Portrait of Christ Further, as the signature is often a variant of "I, Jan van Eyck was here", it can be seen as a, perhaps somewhat arrogant, assertion of both the faithfulness and trustworthiness of the record and the quality of the work (As I (K)Can).
The habit of signing his work ensured that his reputation survived, and attribution has not been as difficult and uncertain as with other first generation artists of the early Netherlandish school. The signatures are usually completed in a decorative script, often of a kind reserved for legal documents, as can be seen in Léal Souvenir and the Arnolfini Portrait, the latter of which is signed "Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434" ("Jan van Eyck was here 1434"), a way of recording his presence.
Inscriptions
Many of van Eyck's paintings are heavily inscribed, in lettering of Greek, Latin or vernacular Dutch. Campbell sees in many examples a "certain consistency which suggest that he himself had painted them", rather than they are later additions. The letterings seem to serve different functions depending on the type of work on which they appear. In his single panel portraits they give voice to the sitter, most notably in Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, where the Greek lettering on the frame translates as "My husband Johannes completed me in the year 1439 on 17 June, at the age of 33. As I can." By contrast the inscriptions on his public, formal religious commissions are written from the point of view of the patron, and there to underscore his piousness, charity and dedication to the saint who he is shown accompanying. This can be seen in his Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele, reads An inscription on the lower imitation frame refers to the donation, "Joris van der Paele, canon of this church, had this work made by painter Jan van Eyck. And he founded two chaplaincies here in the choir of the Lord. 1434. He only completed it in 1436, however."
Frames
Exceptionally for his time, van Eyck often signed and dated his frames, then considered an integral part of the work – the two were often painted together, and while the frames were constructed by a body of craftsmen separate to the master's workshop, their work was often considered as equal in skill to that of the painter.
He designed and painted the frames for his single head portraits to look like imitation stone, with the signature or other inscriptions giving the impression that they had been chiseled into the stone. The frames serve other illusionistic purposes; in Portrait of Isabella of Portugal, described by the frame, her eyes gaze coyly but directly out of the painting, as she rests her hands on the edge of a faux stone parapet. With this gesture Isabella extends her presence out of the pictorial space and into that of the viewer.
Many of the original frames are lost and known only through copies or inventory records. The London Portrait of a Man was likely half of a double portrait or pendant; the last record of the original frames contained many inscriptions, but not all were original; the frames were often overpainted by later artists. Portrait of Jan de Leeuw also bears its original frame, which is painted over to look like bronze.
Many of his frames are heavily inscribed, which serves a dual purpose. They are decorative but also function to set the context for the significance of the imagery, similar to the function of margins in medieval manuscripts. Pieces such as the Dresden Tryptich were usually commissioned for private devotion, and van Eyck would have expected the viewer to contemplate text and imagery in unison.The interior panels of the small 1437 Dresden Triptych are outlined with two layers of painted bronze frames, inscribed with mostly Latin lettering. The texts are drawn from a variety of sources, in the central frames from biblical descriptions of the assumption, while the inner wings are lined with fragments of prayers dedicated to saints Michael and Catherine.
Workshop, unfinished or lost works
Members of his workshop completed works based on his designs in the years after his death in the summer of 1441. This was not unusual; the widow of a master would often carry on the business after his death. It is thought that either his wife Margaret or brother Lambert took over after 1441. Such works include the Ince Hall Madonna, Saint Jerome in His Study, a Madonna of Jan Vos (Virgin and Child with St Barbara and Elizabeth) c. 1443, and others. A number of designs were reproduced by second-generation Netherlandish artists of the first rank, including Petrus Christus, who painted a version of the Exeter Madonna.
Members of his workshop also finished incomplete paintings after his death. The upper portions of the right hand panel of the Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych
are generally considered the work of a weaker painter with a less
individual style. It is thought that van Eyck died leaving the panel
unfinished but with completed underdrawings, and the upper area was
finished by workshop members or followers.
There are three works confidently attributed to him but known only from copies. Portrait of Isabella of Portugal dates to his 1428 visit to Portugal for Philip to draw up a preliminary marriage agreement with the daughter of John I of Portugal. From surviving copies, it can be deduced that there were two other "painted-on" frames apart from the actual oak frame, one of which was lettered with gothic inscription to the top, while a faux stone parapet provided support for her hands to rest upon.
Two extant copies of his Woman Bathing were made in the 60 years after his death, but it is known mostly through its appearance in Willem van Haecht's expansive 1628 painting The Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, a view of a collector's gallery containing many other identifiable old masters. Woman Bathing bears many similarities to Arnolfini Portrait, including an interior with a bed and a small dog, a mirror and its reflection, a chest of drawers and clogs on the floor; more broadly similar are the attendant woman's dress, the outline of her figure, and the angle from which she faces.
Reputation and legacy
In the earliest significant source on van Eyck, a 1454 biography in Genoese humanist Bartolomeo Facio's De viris illustribus, Jan van Eyck is named "the leading painter" of his day. Facio places him among the best artists of the early 15th century, along with Rogier van der Weyden, Gentile da Fabriano, and Pisanello. It is particularly interesting that Facio shows as much enthusiasm for Netherlandish painters as he does for Italian painters. This text sheds light on aspects of Jan van Eyck's production now lost, citing a bathing scene owned by a prominent Italian, but mistakenly attributing to van Eyck a world map painted by another.
Jan van Eyckplein in Bruges is named for him.
Il Polittico di Gand 1432
Ritratto di Baudouin de Lannoy olio su tavola (26x19,5 cm) di Jan van Eyck, databile al 1436-1438 circa e conservato nella Gemäldegalerie di Berlino.
Ritratto di uomo con turbante rosso (1433, suo possibile autoritratto), National Gallery di Londra
olio su pergamena su tavola 12,5×14,5 cm
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Filadelfia
olio su tavola (19,1x13,2 cm) Jan van Eyck, databile al 1430 circa
Museo Brukenthal di Sibiu.
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