Welcome to the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, where there is a fantastic exhibition called "Jan van Eyck: an optical revolution" that unfortunately had to close during the c. closure (the lockdown). However we thought it might still be interesting, since many people wanted to see the exhibition and couldn't either get tickets or couldn't travel anymore, that we would bring you a short glimpse of
what you have missed in fact. We have the unique opportunity to look
at the paintings from the exterior - and in this case also from the interior - of the Ghent Altarpiece up close, which is a very sensational and very sort of like rare experience. So here for example you start with
an exceptional introduction that is to say the "Adam" and "Eve"
of the Ghent Altarpiece, something which must have been for the contemporaries of
Jan van Eyck probably less shocking than for later periods, as we know these
panels were dismantled in the 18th century. They were actually stored,
there were over-painted copies that didn't show Adam and Eve naked. But it is the extreme realism, I mean the focus of even the body hair that sort
of makes this kind very interesting. Something which I had never seen before,
but it was becoming extremely clear to me when I was here in the exhibition, is that Eve is giving... she's taking the forbidden fruit from the
forbidden tree and if you look at this, at this fruit you know, regardless
if it's a lemon or whatever, it just looks pretty evil. Have a look at this. Let's go to Adam. Of course these are
panels which originally were the upper tier, so the idea that you would
see actually below the toes of Adam makes a lot of sense, and above that you have, next to Adam and Eve, you have the story of Cain and Abel and that means, to say,
that the original sin had been committed and then sort of evil came into the
world and in fact necessitated in the long run the birth of Christ and
the sacrificial crucifixion and the promise of eternal life that came with
the New Testament. Let's move on. Now here you have actually parts of the exterior of the Ghent Altarpiece. So this is a panel, one of the panels that has been restored. It's the reverse of Adam and you see here is actually part of
the Annunciation scene, you see here a
beautiful city view and you actually can see how Jan van Eyck painted all the shadows
of the houses sort of on the street and it's full of details and you have
to really zoom in to see that there are people lurking through the windows and there are wall paintings above the door and you can actually identify the house
as a house of St. Christopher. It's full of details and you wonder why
on earth did Jan van Eyck bother to paint this because this was installed
somewhere up there who was able to see that? That is almost obsessive in his way
of recalling details and then you have, as you can see, you have this kind
of frame that's part of the Eyckian ridge. You see the frame seems to cast its own shadow into the painting and that is like playing with the realism that I think for the contemporaries of Jan van Eyck was really really something
extraordinary and the fact that the frame is conceived as a painted stone wall shows you that I think the
idea that this was supposed to be actually windows into something
otherworldly that was behind a closed wall. Here you have a painting which
shows St. Barbara . It's again one of these paintings that have caused a lot of discussion in the art historical literature. It's a painting that comes
from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp and it shows the Saint in front of a tower. Of course as you know Barbara was a
saint who was actually kept in a tower and was martyred there. So in a way Jan van Eyck is able to depict a contemporary cathedral building site and combined
that with the image of the martyr itself. And a lot of details in the
background shows the working people carrying stones around and a crane that is installed in order to lift the stones up to the upper edge. It's a very important painting that gives also ideas of how cathedrals were actually built. What makes this painting special is the fact that it's actually in black and white and the discussion goes pretty much about is it an unfinished painting or was Jan van Eyck already so far that he would actually... That an unfinished painting would be the equal of a finished one? Now this is a discussion that is not settled. However, if it's unfinished
- and there are some arguments for that - it is interesting to note that it has an inscription - It says:
"Johes de Eyck me fecit" - and a date. And that means that the date and the
inscription perhaps not in all cases refer to the finishing of the work
itself, but may actually refer to the moment that it was
conceived the first time. On the reverse you see it's also painted, it's sort of like an imitation of stone, jasper or porphyry, and that indicates - of course there are prints glued on top of that but it indicates that this painting was to be seen on both sides. And that also
implies that it was actually turned around. People didn't hang all the paintings on the wall, they were actually used like silverware. They were presented, handled, as part of a performative act perhaps. Let's look at these two exceptional loans that are here: the "St. Francis receiving the stigmata". There are two known versions of that, both associated with Jan van Eyck: one kept in the Galleria Sabauda - the the bigger one and the smaller one - which is a gem of a painting - in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This is actually another of these paintings - it's in beautiful condition - that are intriguing. It has a painted frame, a kind of "trompe-l'oeil" frame, that gives the idea that it's sort of... creates depth and it's painted on parchment, so again parchment glued on wood. So again sort of proving the association between Jan van Eyck and illuminators. This is an oil painting and probably of one of the close followers and workshop members by van Eyck. Now this room is dedicated to
the subject of mother and child. It's a room where we don't have works from
the Ghent Altarpiece, but it's focused actually on one of two versions of the Madonna and Child: the "Madonna at the fountain". The original is again in Antwerp - it's a beautiful gem-like painting - that shows the Virgin Mary with the
infant Christ in front of a fountain. And you can see how precise Jan van Eyck depicts even the splash of water coming up. Two angels are holding a cloth
of honour in her back and it's a painting that had a great afterlife. Here you have again the inscription "Johes de Eyck me fecit" 1439
- two years before his death - and here you have almost the same composition, by a follower of van Eyck, a workshop member, I think by a workshop member, and this is most
likely the version that was actually kept in the collection of Margaret of
Austria in Mechelen. This room is called "the Word of God" and this is all focused on this "Annunciation" from the Ghent Altarpiece. The archangel Gabriel approaches the Virgin from the left. Both figures are actually far too big for the room in which they are presented. It's a typical thing of van Eyck - when figures are standing up they are almost getting
through the roof - and it still looks very very realistic to us. He brings a bouquet of lilies with him as a symbol of the Annunciation of the Virginality of Mary, and he speaks the words: "Ave Maria, ave gratia plena", addressing her appropriately. And what happens then? Mary - who is sitting and praying in front of a prayer book - looks up.
She answers to the greetings "ecce ancilla domini" and Jan van Eyck turns the
words around so that they actually be read from above, from the perspective
of God. And that moment the dove of the Holy Ghost enters and Christ is incarnated. On the top of these two depictions you have two prophets that actually announce the coming of the Messiah. So again the Old Testament, the New Testament are given here to show the passing of
the Old to the New Testament. This is the only painting that we can - with some probability - associate with the patronage of Philip the Good and it shows again the Annunciation in a very different way. Jan van Eyck puts that scene into a church interior. The church interior consists of both gothic and romanesque features, and again this is a way for him
to indicate the dichotomy between the New and the Old Testament. The archangel comes again from the left, approaches the Virgin. He says ""ave gratia plena", she answers "ecce ancilla domini", again turned around. And you have seven golden
rays that come down from the upper window down representing the seven gifts of the
Holy Ghost, that manifests itself in the form of a dove up there. In the picture you have references to the Holy Trinity, like with the three windows behind the
Virgin. You have above there a representation of God the Father and sort of like romanesque wall paintings depicting "the finding of Moses" and the
"receiving of the ten commandments". And on the lower edge you have a few images of
Old Testament scenes, being the fight of David and Goliath, the story
of Samson, also stories that relate very closely to the idea of the sacrificial death of Christ and the triumph over the death that is represented by his resurrection. And here we have the "Turin-Milan Hours". This book is kept in the Museo Civico in Turin that consists of manuscripts of the Limbourg brothers from Jean Le Noir and others around
1400 and then other illuminators from around the 1450s and 60s - all followers of van Eyck. But it also consists of two miniatures that are by van Eyck himself. Here we show the birth of St. John the Baptist, which is a beautiful composition. Well this interior scene is really
sort of remarkable because it has a lot of different aspects to it. There is a view into a room that really foreshadows the work of Vermeer. The landscape painting of the baptism of Christ is really one of the
milestones in European landscape painting. This is an extremely important work and we are very proud to have it here. Here we have the two grisailles from the lower pier of the Ghent Altarpiece, which were the exterior of the painting. They are actually painted in grey as if they were stone. Both Saints -
Saint John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist - were actually patron saints
of the church that the altarpiece was commissioned for:
the Church of St. John, today the Cathedral of St. Bavo. It's really amazing, especially after the restoration. You see that van Eyck took great care in order to make a difference between the two different stones that were actually used. This is a different stone than this one. You see the veins of the stone, it's meticulously done and even in a
way that of course he competes with contemporary sculpture. But he is
trying to show that he's actually even better in doing fake sculptures than the sculptors of his time themselves. You have a few examples here that show
sculptures of this period and I think it becomes increasingly clear. But the concept of grisaille is worked out even more in two other examples that
we have here as well. This is the "Annunciation diptych" from the Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and it's an astonishing work. It's a high point of the oeuvre of Jan van Eyck where he uses only three colours to create
a whole effect. And of course the use of three colours - black, white and red - is something that Pliny, the antique author, recommends. And we know that van Eyck of course was reading Pliny himself. Now here you see the
Annunciation taking place as again painted sculpture. You see how the wings of the angel are sort of like foreshadowing the frame. It comes out of the frame and you see little reflections of the figures in the
polished background. And if you look at the Virgin Mary you even see that the dove - which is physically impossible - is sort of like flying. But it's at the same time presumably static. We are coming towards the end of the exhibition. Every exhibition is trying to build up suspense and this is probably one of the most impressive rooms in the entire exhibition. It's devoted to portraiture. This is a painting that comes from the Brukenthal collection in Sibiu, in Romania and it's probably the earliest portrait
that we know of van Eyck. We can assume it's early because of the blue headdress that the man is wearing. It's a headdress that was in fashion in the late 1420s early 1430s, so it's very likely to predate actually any other paintings by Jan van Eyck. And what do we see here? Is a man who is sort of looking indecisive into the space. He holds in his right hand a ring. He presents a ring, it's almost like a proxy portrait where he offers
somebody to marry her and awaits her answer. Because that's a very typical
thing that Jan van Eyck does he depicts the ear as if he wanted to say: "now I'm waiting for what you're saying". And the ear is very centrally actually depicted, and these kind of games are something that we see with van Eyck. Rather often they are compelling tricks that enhance the realism of the images. An exhibition is always a welcome opportunity to look into the possibilities if things need to be restored. And this painting, which represents the Flemish noble man Baudouin de Lannoy, somebody at the court of Burgundy, it was restored on the occasion of the exhibition in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie. So it's now really an amazingly fresh painting. It shows this military leader with the coat of the Golden Fleece, the Order of the Golden Fleece, the chivalric order that Philip the Good founded in 1432, and it shows him again sort of looking to the
right, to his right and in a costly brocade pattern, probably a present by Philip the Good. Jan van Eyck and Baudouin de Lannoy knew each other presumably very well because they were both members of the embassy to Isabella of Portugal where Jan van Eyck painted the portrait so they must have spent a lot of time on the boat. However this portrait is painted a few years later, because as I said: he has the insignia of the Golden Fleece with him. This is almost the same concept as the man with the blue headdress that we saw earlier, but the context is entirely different. Here Jan van Eyck depicts a man called "Jan De Leeuw" who is actually a goldsmith. And so unlike in that other portrait - where in all likelihood it was like an offer of
marriage - here the gesture of the offer of marriage is ridiculed and it's played about. So somebody who sees that portrait would
assume this is actually somebody offering the ring for marriage, but in fact he who reads the inscription of the original frame - which is kind of a riddled frame - would realize that it in fact it's a goldsmith, who is actually teasing you with his merchandise if you want. The inscription is in Dutch and it's kind of a reference to the birth date of Jan De Leeuw. It's a small lion actually depicted instead of the name, and it's sort of like
hints to Jan van Eyck's presence in Bruges in the culture of the rhetoricians of the period. Rhetoricians were people that were craftsmen who actually also acted as poets, and the first chamber of rhetoricians was actually founded in Bruges in 1428 and among the founding members were painters like Lodewijck Halyncbrood, a contemporary of Jan van Eyck. So in other words this kind of
municipal culture, this urban culture, was very important for van Eyck, and this was probably one of the very few people who were able to commission a portrait from his friend in order to display in this kind of corporate and guild context. This portrait "Léal Souvenir" is another riddle. Many of these works by van Eyck keep their secrets and that's also very challenging in order to work on these things. You see here a man behind a stone parapet. This is a painting from the National Gallery that has also been cleaned specifically for the exhibition. You see how beautiful the hand is actually protruding, making it illusionistic transfer into the realm of reality. It says here "Leal Souvenir" "a good image" and above that it says: "Timotheus, Actum anno domini, 1432" and then "Johannes de Eyck". This is a rather interesting inscription because "actum" refers to a legal act, "Timotheus" is in Greek letters, so it's absolutely not clear and the entire image looks like a memorial portrait. So is it a memorial portrait? Is it a memorial
portrait that hints at a deed that has been executed and is memorized in this
painting? All these things are entirely unclear, but it's fascinating to speculate about it. We have here the remarkable portraits of the donors of the Ghent Altarpiece. That is Judocus Vijd and Elisabeth Borluut. So here where I stand, you would have to imagine the two St. Johns in grisaille, and then you would have the entire register. What is interesting to see is that these figures are depicted in the same niches. But again: if they would rise, they would actually be too big for the space that they are conceived for. Now these paintings have altered so dramatically because all the overpaint has been removed during the restoration and it is in a way incredible to see them in their restored form. When the Ghent Altarpiece was installed in the Church of St. John - today the Cathedral of St. Bavo - in 1432 it must have been for the contemporaries a revelation. Never before had they seen lifelike figures like this and I was wondering what would have happened to people who would have been looking at this lady here, and while the lady was standing next to them. Were they confused about the identity of
these people? Did they take the painting for the real thing? All these things we can't imagine what the impact of such images must have been at a time when imagery was not omnipresent as it is now, but was a very seldom and rare commodity. This, ladies and gentlemen, is unfortunately the end of this short tour that I had the privilege of giving to you. I hope you enjoyed looking at the masterpieces that we were able to show you here, and to give you an idea of what this exhibition is about. For those who have visited it's probably a welcome memory, for those who haven't been able to visit it's probably a welcome manner to familiarize yourself with the oeuvre of this exceptional artist Jan van Eyck. Thank you very much.
I'd prefer to stare at the painting a bit more but an excellent history on the painting and this painter from the 15th Century.