The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin (detail) by Jan van Eyck Jan Van Eyck is often credited as the inventor of oil painting. Yet although he is certainly the first artist who fully mastered the technique, in fact oils had been used in Indian and Chinese paintings as far back as the fifth century.
Nevertheless, the many who have admired Van Eyck’s extraordinary The Arnolfini Portrait (1434), at the National Gallery, will appreciate that he truly was a visionary. This small painting is not only sublimely beautiful, it is so rich with puzzling detail and metaphor that it has transfixed artists since it was completed. Van Eyck even signed the painting unconventionally: an inscription on the wall above the convex mirror in the background, “Jan Van Eyck was here 1434”.
There is no certainty about the date of birth of the Flemish artist, which is estimated at between 1390-1395. And almost nothing definitive has been recorded about his early life. We know he became court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in 1425, and was paid a yearly stipend – unusual at the time, when artists relied on earning money from commissions. His salary repeatedly doubled as his value to the Duke grew.
In addition to making paintings, he also acted as a personal ambassador for his master in trying to secure him a suitable bride, travelling first to the Iberian Peninsula to sound out Princess Isabella of Spain and, more successfully, to kindle the interest of Princess Isabella of Portugal.
While working for the Duke, in 1435 he was asked by the royal chancellor, Nicolas Rolin, to provide a grand painting to decorate his own chapel in the Notre Dame Church in Autun, since destroyed. Despite his modest family background, Rolin’s reputation as a lawyer had led to his advancement to court dignitary. Unsurprisingly, he wished to make his great standing abundantly clear, which resulted in one of the most blatant vanity projects of all time: a portrait of himself with the Virgin and Child.
The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin (detail) by Jan van EyckCredit: Photo Josse/Leemage
Dressed in brocade and mink furs, Rolin is seen kneeling before a velvet-covered prayer desk, as the infant Jesus, holding a small globe as a symbol of Christ’s power over creation, blesses him. Mary is seated on a throne holding the young child, while angels carry an imposing jewelled crown to her head.
The composition opens up through a triple archway with Roman columns, to reveal a bucolic landscape and formal gardens with a basilica. The three protagonists create a sculptural presence, enabling the artist to demonstrate his skill with composition and, in the room’s architecture and ornamental tiling, his grasp of perspective.
In the painting, Van Eyck employs symbolism to represent scenes from the Old and New Testaments, and Christ’s transition between the two. Reliefs depicting the Seven Deadly Sins can be seen above Rolin’s head.
Besides betraying a desire for self-aggrandisement that would have given Citizen Kane pause, Rolin was an enlightened patron to a number of artists. Importantly, he supported the Netherlandish painter Rogier Van der Weyden (1400-1464) in creating the Beaune Altarpiece, his outstanding polyptych of the Last Judgement, for a hospital in Beaune, France.
Along with Robert Campin (c1378-1444), Van Eyck was the leading representative of painting in oils, which were soon to become widespread as artists discovered that it allowed light and detail to be captured with greater brilliance.
The Duke allowed him to take on other commissions, foremost of which is the magnificent Ghent Altarpiece (1432). Comprising 12 wooden panels that open to reveal exquisitely painted biblical depictions, it is one of the highest pinnacles of Christian art.
It has had a turbulent history, surviving riots and revolutions, and was looted by the Nazis. It was discovered, after the war, hidden in a salt mine alongside other stolen treasures, and was painstakingly restored. It has also been the subject of much scrutiny over the years, because the inscription on it reads “Hubert van Eyck major quonemo reportus” – greater than anyone. Hubert was Jan’s brother, who reportedly started the work, with Jan finishing it and signing “arte secundus” – second best in art. However, experts maintain that these signatures were a fiction, invented by Ghent humanists in the 16th century, and that Hubert was responsible only for the work’s sculptural framework.
Commentators have also debated which of the surviving Van Eyck paintings is the most perfect example of his powers – The Arnolfini Portrait, with its intricate detail and symbolism; the breathtaking majesty of the Ghent Altarpiece, or the electrifyingly beautiful Virgin and Child with Chancellor Rodin. It seems of little consequence which is the finer, and Britain is fortunate to have The Arnolfini Portrait on display in the capital, alongside Van Eyck’s delightful Portrait of a Man from 1433.
Van Eyck achieved his precise finish by painting layer after layer of thin veils of oil, which also allowed for his manipulation of perspective and indirect lighting. He clearly used a very fine brush, and experts agree that, on occasion, he worked with a single hair. His attention to detail, and his devotion to reproducing exactly his sitters’s garments and their setting, was revolutionary. Certainly, it inspired much of the art produced in later years.
Even in the 19th century, Van Eyck’s works remained the benchmark against which all painting was to be judged. It is probably the case that, without the advances he made in oil painting, the work of early giants like Piero della Francesca, Andrea Mantegna, and Sandro Botticelli may have been diminished, as well as the highest achievements of the masters of the High Renaissance, Raphael and da Vinci.
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