Editing Jan van Eyck (section)

==Works==
{{main|List of works by Jan van Eyck}}
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.<ref>Gombrich, E. H., ''The Story of Art'', 236–9. Phaidon, 1995</ref>

Even though it may be assumed&nbsp;– given the demand and fashion&nbsp;– that he produced a number of triptychs, only the ''[[Dresden Triptych|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.<ref>Borchert, 60</ref>

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, <small>ALS ICH KAN</small>. 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."<ref>Cotter, Holland. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/24/arts/art-review-mysteries-in-the-crystalline-world-of-a-flemish-master.html Mysteries in the Crystalline World of a Flemish Master]". ''New York Times'', 24 April 1998. Retrieved 28 April 2018</ref>

===Turin-Milan Hours: Hand G===
[[File:Eyckbaptism.png|thumb|left|upright=1.4|''Bas-de-page'' of the ''[[Baptism of Jesus|Baptism of Christ]]'', Hand G, Turin. Milan Filio 93v, Inv 47.]]

Since 1901 Jan van Eyck has often been credited as the anonymous artist known as Hand G of the [[Turin-Milan Hours]].{{efn-ua|It is also possible that Hand G was a follower of Van Eyck's. See Campbell (1998), 174}} 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."<ref>Kren (2003), 83</ref>

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''.<ref>Borchert (2008), 83</ref>

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 ''[[Nativity of St. John the Baptist|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{{efn-ua|''bas-de-page'' refers to often unframed images illuminating the bottom of a page.<ref>'[https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossB.asp Catalogue of illuminated manuscripts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127121248/https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossB.asp |date=27 January 2023 }}'. [[British Library]]. Retrieved 9 November 2018</ref>}} The ''Office of the Dead'' is often seen as recalling Jan's 1438–1440 ''[[Madonna in the Church]]''.<ref>Borchert (2008), 80</ref> 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''.{{efn-ua|Kren (2003), 84, note 1. Châtelet, 34–35 and 194–196&nbsp;– all except the ''Coronation'' are illustrated there. The titles vary between authors. Châtelet additionally credits Hand G with parts of ''The Intercession of Christ and the Virgin'' in the Louvre (p.195)}}

===Marian iconography===
[[File:Jan van Eyck - Triptych of Mary and Child, St. Michael, and the Catherine - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Dresden Triptych]]''. Oil on oak panel, 1437. [[Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister]], Dresden]]
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 art|Byzantine tradition]] of the [[Eleusa icon]] (''Virgin of Tenderness'').<ref>Harbison (1991), 158–162</ref> 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,<ref name="d106-8">Dhanens (1980), 106–108</ref> perhaps an element borrowed from [[Robert Campin]]'s ''Virgin Annunciate''.<ref name="p129">Pächt (1994), 129</ref> 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 [[Marian apparition|as an apparition]] before a donor kneeling in prayer to the side.<ref name="h96">Harbison (1991), 96</ref><ref>Nash (2008), 283</ref> The idea of a saint appearing before a [[laity|layperson]] was common in Northern donor portraits of the period.<ref name="h96" /> 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.<ref name="R50">Rothstein (2005), 50</ref>

[[File:Jan van Eyck The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Madonna of Chancellor Rolin]]'', {{Circa|1435}}. [[Musée du Louvre]], Paris]]
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.<ref>MacCulloch (2005), 11–13</ref> 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.<ref name="H160">Harbison (1997), 160</ref>

[[File:Jan van Eyck - The Madonna in the Church - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Madonna in the Church]]'', {{Circa|1438–1440}}. [[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin|Gemäldegalerie]], Berlin]]
Eyck usually gives Mary three roles: Mother of Christ; the personification of the "[[Church militant and church triumphant|Ecclesia Triumphans]]"; or [[Queen of Heaven]].<ref name="H169">Harbison (1991), 169</ref>

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.<ref name="H169" /> Art historian [[Otto Pächt]] describes the interior of the panel as a "throne room" which envelops her as if a "carrying case".<ref>Pächt (1999), 203–205</ref> This distortion of scale is found in a number of other of his Madonna paintings, including ''[[Annunciation (van Eyck, Washington)|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.<ref>Panofsky (1953), 145</ref> [[Till-Holger Borchert]] says that van Eyck did not paint "the Madonna in a church", but as "the Church".<ref name="B63">Borchert, 63</ref>

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,<ref name="h101">Harbison (1991), 101</ref> and was more concerned with their visual impact rather than physical possibility.<ref name="D328">Dhanens (1980), 328</ref>

[[File:Jan van Eyck - The Ghent Altarpiece - Virgin Mary (detail) - WGA07629.jpg|left|thumb|''Ghent Altarpiece'', detail showing the Virgin Mary]]
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 the central portico and the 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.<ref>Harbison (1991), 100</ref> 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.<ref>Snyder (1985), 100; Harbison (1991), 169–175</ref> 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.<ref>Wood, Christopher. ''Forgery, Replica, Fiction: Temporalities of German Renaissance Art''. University of Chicago Press, 2008. 195–96. {{ISBN|0-226-90597-7}}</ref>

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".<ref name="d106-8" /> 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 <small>''EST ENIM HAEC SPECIOSIOR SOLE ET SUPER OMNEM STELLARUM DISPOSITIONEM. LUCI CONPARATA INVENITUR PRIOR''</small><ref name="B63"/> 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|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 (after van der Goes?)|Virgin and Child]]'' triptych.<ref>Harbison (1991), 95–96. Both wings are later additions.</ref>

===Secular portraits===
[[File:Arnolfini Portrait 2.jpg|thumb|''The [[Arnolfini Portrait]]'', detail showing the female subject and convex mirror]]
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 [[Humanism|humanist]] ideas of individual identity led to a demand for portraits.<ref name="b35"/>

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.<ref>Bauman (1986), 4</ref> Today, nine [[portrait|three-quarters view portraits]] are attributed to him. His style was widely adopted, most notably by van der Weyden, [[Petrus Christus]] and [[Hans Memling]].

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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),<ref name="t149"/> directional lighting,<ref name="b35" /> 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 (art historian)|Lorne Campbell]] "rather inefficiently shaved".<ref name="c216">Campbell (1998), 216</ref> Campbell lists other van Eyck unshaven sitters; ''[[Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati|Niccolò Albergati]]'' (1431), ''[[Ghent Altarpiece#Commission|Jodocus Vijdt]]'' (1432), ''[[Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?)|Jan van Eyck?]]'' (1433), ''[[Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele|Joris van der Paele]]'' (c. 1434–1436), ''[[Madonna of Chancellor Rolin|Nicolas Rolin]]'' (1435) and ''[[Portrait of Jan de Leeuw|Jan de Leeuw]]'' (1436).<ref name="c216" />

Notes made on the reverse of his paper study for the ''[[Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati]]'' provide insight into Eyck's approach to minute detailing of his sitter' faces. Of his detailing of beard growth he wrote, "die stoppelen vanden barde wal grijsachtig" (''the stubble of the beard grizzled'').<ref name="p109">Pächt (1999), 109</ref> 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&nbsp;... the white also yellowish&nbsp;..."<ref name="c31">Campbell (1998), 31</ref>

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 | image1    = Eyck, Jan van - Portrait of a Young Man (Tymotheos) - National Gallery, London.jpg
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The ''[[Léal Souvenir]]'' portrait of 1432 continues the adherence to realism and acute observation of the small details of the sitter's appearance.<ref name="Kemperdick19">Kemperdick (2006), 19</ref> 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.<ref name="p109" /> 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.<ref name="c32">Campbell (1998), 32</ref>

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 [[Illusionism (art)|illusionistic]] manner, giving the impression they are chiseled onto stone.<ref name="p80">Panofsky (1953), 80</ref> van Eyck often set the inscriptions as if in the sitters voice, so that they "appear to be speaking".<ref name="b42">Borchert (2008), 42</ref> Examples include the ''Portrait of Jan de Leeuw'' which reads ''...&nbsp;Jan de [Leeuw], who first opened his eyes on the [[Saint Ursula|Feast of St Ursula]] [21 October], 1401. Now Jan van Eyck has painted me, you can see when he began it. 1436''.<ref name="b42" /> 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.''<ref name="b149">Borchert (2008), 149</ref>

Hands play a special significance in van Eyck's painting.<ref name="p108">Pächt (1999), 108</ref> 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.<ref name="p110">Pächt (1999), 110</ref>

The ''[[Arnolfini Portrait]]'' of 1432 is filled with illusionism and symbolism,<ref name ="Dhanens198">Dhanens (1980), 198</ref> as is the 1435 ''[[Madonna of Chancellor Rolin]]'', commissioned to display Rolin's power, influence and piety.<ref name ="Dhanens269">Dhanens (1980), 269–270</ref>