248. Jan van Eyck (1375-1441), Flemish,

The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434. Oil on oak panel,

82.2 x 60 cm. The National Gallery, London.

 

 

One of the most discussed of all paintings, van Eyck’s masterpiece of natural symbolism presents objects which have been given special meaning apposite to this couple’s marriage, yet the same objects are appropriate to the scene in themselves. The work is, in effect, a visual in how one can find synchronicity and deeper meaning in everyday circumstances. The lines between the neatly groomed dog and the pairs of discarded shoes create a triangle. The dog (symbolising loyalty) complements the shoes (also symbolising domesticity). The man’s feet are firmly in the middle of the lower triangle, indicating his vow of stability. The faces of the married couple and their clasped hands form the same size-and-shape triangle. The couple stands hand-in-hand as their other hands wear wedding rings, as if their love is authentic and complemented by, rather than caused by, their wedding vows. In the middle of that triangle is a mirror in a circular shape recalling eternity. Ten of the ‘Stations of the Cross’ are symbolised around the frame of the mirror. Prayer beads hang on the wall to the left of the stations-mirror. The reflection of the mirror shows the couple from the mirror’s point of view, as if creating a circle of time and space. A statue of a saint on the bedpost is crushing a dragon (symbolising evil). The elaborate signature of the artist is on the wall below the mirror. The chandelier holds a single, lit candle. A superstition at the time suggested that a single, lit candle near the wedding bed would assure fertility.

 

 

Jan and Hubert van Eyck

(c. 1390 near Maastricht –1441 Bruges)

(c. 1366?–1426 Bruges)

 

Little is known of these two brothers; even the dates of their births being uncertain. Their most famous work, begun by Hubert and finished by Jan, is the Altarpiece, The Adoration of the Lamb. Jan, as perhaps also Hubert, was for a time in the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. He was entered in the household as “varlet and painter”, but acted at the same time as a confidential friend, and for his services received an annual salary of two horses for his use, and a “varlet in livery” to attend on him. The greater part of his life was spent in Bruges.

Their wonderful use of colour is another reason for the fame of the van Eycks. Artists came from Italy to study their pictures, to discover what they themselves must do in order to paint so well, with such brilliance, such full and firm effect, as these two brothers. For they had discovered the secret of working successfully with oil colours. Before their time, attempts had been made to mix colours in the medium of oil, but the oil was slow in drying, and the varnish added to remedy this had blackened the colours. The van Eycks, however, had hit upon a transparent varnish which dried quickly and without injury to the tints. Though they guarded the secret jealously, it was discovered by the Italian Antonello da Messina, who was working in Bruges, and through him published to the world. The invention made possible the enormous development in the art of painting which ensued.

In these two brothers the grand art of Flanders was born. Like “the sudden flowering of the aloe, after sleeping through a century of suns,” this art, rooted in the native soil, nurtured by the smaller arts of craftsmanship, reached its full ripeness and expanded into blossom. Such further development as it experienced came from Italian influence; but the distinctly Flemish art, born out of local conditions in Flanders, was already fully-grown.