diff options
Diffstat (limited to '41798-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 41798-0.txt | 1214 |
1 files changed, 1214 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/41798-0.txt b/41798-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e015e59 --- /dev/null +++ b/41798-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1214 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41798 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 41798-h.htm or 41798-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41798/41798-h/41798-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41798/41798-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/vaneyckocad00wealuoft + + + + + +MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR + +Edited by T. Leman Hare + +VAN EYCK + +Hubert, 1365 (?)-1426 +John, 1385 (?)-1441 + + * * * * * + +"MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR" SERIES + + + ARTIST. AUTHOR. + + BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. + BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. + BOUCHER. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. + CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. + CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. + CONSTABLE. C. LEWIS HIND. + COROT. SIDNEY ALLNUTT. + DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. + DELACROIX. PAUL G. KONODY. + DÜRER. H. E. A. FURST. + FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. + FRA FILIPPO LIPPI. PAUL G. KONODY. + FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. + GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. + GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. + HOGARTH. C. LEWIS HIND. + HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. + INGRES. A. J. FINBERG. + LAWRENCE. S. L. BENSUSAN. + LE BRUN, VIGÉE. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. + LUINI. JAMES MASON. + MANTEGNA. MRS. ARTHUR BELL. + MEMLINC. W. H. J. & J. C. WEALE. + MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. + MILLET. PERCY M. TURNER. + MURILLO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + PERUGINO. SELWYN BRINTON. + RAEBURN. JAMES L. CAW. + RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. + REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. + REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. + ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. + RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + SARGENT. T. MARTIN WOOD. + TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + TITIAN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. + VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. + VAN EYCK. J. CYRIL M. WEALE. + VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. + WATTEAU. C. LEWIS HIND. + WATTS. W. LOFTUS HARE. + WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. + + _Others in Preparation._ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: PLATE I.--THE ADORATION OF THE LAMB + +(By Hubert van Eyck) + +The centre-piece of the Ghent Polyptych, in the Cathedral of that town. +The panel was completed in or before 1426. See page 28.] + + +VAN EYCK + +by + +J. CYRIL M. WEALE + +Illustrated with Eight Reproductions in Colour + + + + + + + +[Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.] + +London: T. C. & E. C. Jack +New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. + + + + +TO MY MOTHER + +IN TOKEN OF REVERENCE AND LOVE + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + I. The Advent of the Van Eycks 11 + + II. Hubert's Novitiate 17 + + III. The Great Polyptych 22 + + IV. In the Service of Burgundy 42 + + V. Period of Great Endeavour 58 + + VI. A Note in Conclusion 77 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Plate + I. The Adoration of the Lamb, _c._ 1426 Frontispiece + (By Hubert van Eyck.--The Cathedral, Ghent) + + Page + II. Choir of Angels, _c._ 1426 14 + (By Hubert van Eyck.--Royal Gallery, Berlin) + + III. Portrait of "Tymotheos," 1432 24 + (By John van Eyck.--National Gallery, London, No. 290) + + IV. Portrait of the Painter's Father-in-law, 1433 34 + (By John van Eyck.--National Gallery, London, No. 222) + + V. John Arnolfini and Joan Cenani, his Wife, 1434 40 + (By John van Eyck.--National Gallery, London, No. 186) + + VI. The Virgin and Child, St. Donatian and St. George, and + Canon G. Van der Paele, 1436 50 + (By John van Eyck.--Town Gallery, Bruges) + + VII. Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, the Painter's Wife, 1439 60 + (By John van Eyck.--Town Gallery, Bruges) + + VIII. The Virgin and Child, and Chancellor Rolin, date + uncertain 70 + (By -- van Eyck.--The Louvre, Paris) + + + + +[Illustration: John. Hubert.] + + + + +I + +THE ADVENT OF THE VAN EYCKS + + +The advent of the Van Eycks is the most important landmark in the +history of painting in northern Europe. With them we open an entirely +new chapter, for although the value of oil in various inferior processes +of the art had been ascertained and availed of at an earlier period, it +was entirely due to their long and painstaking experiments that its use +was perfected as the vehicle of colouring matter in picture-painting. +Unfortunately, time and its worst incidentals have obliterated the +evidence which would have enabled us to follow the development of this +new method, just as they have robbed us of all the earlier work of its +original expounders, leaving us at the same time much too inconsiderable +remains for a comprehensive survey of the school of which they were the +finished product. It is a disconcerting experience to encounter +primarily the lifework of two such eminent painters at a stage when they +were already in the plenitude of their powers, and an experience that +must always tax the ingenuity of the student and critic of their art. +Particularly is this the case in respect of the elder brother, for the +ascertained facts of Hubert's history are restricted to the last two +years of his life (1425-26), while of the masterpieces he bequeathed to +posterity only one can be said to be absolutely authenticated, though of +others generally ascribed to him several may safely be accepted as +genuine. John's career, on the other hand, can be traced back to +1424, but the chronology from that date to his death in 1441 is fairly +ample, while he has left us a rich heritage of attested paintings to +exemplify the varying aspects of his remarkable genius. + +[Illustration: PLATE II.--CHOIR OF ANGELS + +(By Hubert van Eyck) + +The first dexter lateral panel in the upper zone of the interior of the +Great Polyptych: now in the Royal Gallery, Berlin. Painted in or before +1426. See page 31.] + +It was in the nature of things that the monastic institutions, which in +the early Middle Ages were exclusively the nurseries of learning and of +the arts and crafts, should have infected these with the mystic spirit +induced by the more or less contemplative life its inmates led. More +especially must this have been so when we consider that their labours +were wholly in the service of religion. As time went on, and monasticism +progressed from the pursuit to the dissemination of knowledge, the +pupils developed under its influence were naturally imbued with the same +spirit, and so a tradition grew up and spread which held undisputed sway +for a considerable period in the various centres where artists +congregated and formed schools. In the earlier Rhenish school of Cöln +this was the dominant note of its art, which it cherished and sustained +in all its purity and simplicity to a later period than any of its +offshoots and rivals; for as its teaching extended, more particularly +northwards, we are conscious of a weakening of its traditions, of a +gradual evolution from the spiritual idealism of its mystic brotherhood +to the more humanistic realism that is the distinctive feature of +Netherlandish art, from the utter sinking of personality to the frank +assertion of individuality. Nor does this divergence necessarily bespeak +a weakening of religious vitality: rather is it to be ascribed to a +marked difference of temperament and race characteristics. Neither could +this change have been as abrupt as might appear from the scant remains +of the art of the period. It was a natural growth, the one inherent +quality of all such developments, ever tending to the elaboration of a +higher type, and eventually producing its finest exemplification in the +person of Hubert van Eyck. In his younger brother, on the other hand, +who almost belonged to another generation, we soon note a more striking +falling away from the earlier ideals, and in the event an almost total +emancipation from the canons of the mystic school, the explanation of +which is probably to be sought in an equally marked difference of +character and temperament in the two brothers: the one more poetic and +imaginative, the other more objective and materialistic; the one drawing +his inspiration from a humble and devout cultivation of art by the light +of the sanctuary, the other from a devotion to art for art's sole sake, +involving all the difference that divides the expression of beauty of +thought and mere beauty of form, the spiritual and the intellectual: +each nevertheless supreme in his own sphere, and wielding an influence +and authority destined to leave their impress on all the after-work of +the school. + + + + +II + +HUBERT'S NOVITIATE + + +The small rural town of Maaseyck, on the left bank of the Maas, in the +old duchy of Limburg, was the home of the Van Eycks and the birthplace +of the elect of their stock, Hubert's coming being traditionally +associated with the year 1365, John's with 1385. In the absence of +documentary evidence to the contrary, these data are acceptable as +founded on reasonable conjecture. There is no record of their parentage, +but we know of a third brother, named Lambert, and of a kinsman, one +Henry van Eyck, whose exact relationship has not been established. As +the early instinct of genius revealed the true bent of the elder lad's +disposition, the outstanding advantages of a distinguished school of +painting within hail almost of their doors naturally appealed to parents +anxious to give effect to their son's aspirations; so to Maastricht they +turned, where the boy was duly apprenticed to one or other of its +recognised masters. Having served his articles and in due course been +admitted to the rank of journeyman, the youthful artist, now free to +qualify for his mastership, entered upon the most interesting period of +his education, a period largely spent, according to the custom of the +time, in foreign travel; and it is with this stage of Hubert's career +that criticism first finds legitimate occupation. + +Futile as would be the attempt to trace a definite itinerary, it is +allowable to conjecture that the mother school of Cöln would mark the +first stage in the young artist's travels: in the centre-piece of the +great polyptych we discover in the background architectural work +distinctly reminiscent of that city, and detail unmistakably Rhenish in +character, testifying to a close acquaintance with the district. +Evidence of similar import, such as the cathedral in the Louvre picture +and the city view with a faithful presentation of Old Saint Paul's as +seen from the south in that of Baron Gustave Rothschild's collection, on +the confident assumption that these are from the brush of Hubert, +bespeak visits to France and England; while the landscape work in all +his paintings betrays so intimate an acquaintance with central and +southern European scenery as almost to compel us into the beaten tracks +of the wandering artist-student of the time through Switzerland and the +south of France, to sunny Italy and erubescent Spain. The variety of his +mountain scenery--undulating hills and snow-capped peaks, rugged crags +and Alpine heights; the depth of his liquid skies and spacious +firmaments, with their marvellous cloud and light effects, melodies in +colour that breathe the warmth of a southern sun; and the extent of his +botanical lore, embracing the olive and citron, the stone pine and +cypress, the date-palm and palmetto, naturalised exotics of the +Mediterranean slopes--all these and other particulars too numerous to +list bear the hall-mark of knowledge garnered in the observant pursuit +of local colouring. + +For so much there is ample warrant, and within the limits of such +guarded conclusions the critic incurs little danger from the many +pitfalls that beset the by-paths of deductive reasoning. But seeing that +the most of our knowledge of Hubert's life-work is arrived at by this +method of inquiry, it is essential that every inference should at least +stand the test of probability. To argue, for example, from the +presentation of a particular palm-tree a pilgrimage to the Holy Land is +to offend the laws of proportion; to discern in the picture of the +walled city of Jerusalem in "The Three Marys at the Sepulchre" work +evidently "from a sketch made on the spot" would appear more +justifiable, until one is reminded of the fact that the defences of the +Holy City, pulled down in 1239, were not rebuilt until 1542; but surely +it is speculation run riot, in the attempt to vindicate a preconceived +theory, when the simple, unobtrusive artist is made, "after the +adventurous manner of his time," to join a crusade and journey to +Palestine, seeing that the last of these gallant enterprises had taken +place full seventy years before he ever saw the light of day. Without, +however, incurring the reproach of outraging probability, we may +apportion the usual four years of Hubert's term of journeymanship +between the countries already indicated, his wanderings likely enough +terminating with the visit to England before his return to the Low +Countries to settle down to his life's work as a master painter, his +range of knowledge tremendously enlarged, his technique broadened and +perfected in the various schools and workshops through which he had +passed, his imagination fertilised, his creative powers strengthened, +his faculty of utterance and expression developed--in short, fully +equipped at all points to startle the world with the first-fruits of his +as yet unrealised genius. + + + + +III + +THE GREAT POLYPTYCH + + +So, back to Maaseyck and to Maastricht: to family rejoicings and the +generous welcome of old friends, no light matter when ordered on the +good old Netherlandish scale. Anxiety there, of course, and much +curiosity here, as to how the promise of early talent would be justified +by the ripening fruit. Nor could the issue have been long in doubt. The +indispensable test triumphantly passed, the customary formalities duly +complied with, and Hubert van Eyck took his place among the master +painters of his time, soon to claim rank among the élite of them +all. Of wife or children not a whisper, but in an age when civism spelt +patriotism, and marriage was recognised as one of the prime moral +obligations of a loyal citizen, it is inconceivable that a man of his +sterling sense of duty should have done other than conform to the +established practice. His home and workshop were from the outset +probably cheered by the presence of his younger brother John, fired by +the born artist's enthusiasm to follow in his senior's footsteps. This +Maastricht studio no doubt also witnessed the inception of that long +series of experiments, secretly shared in by the two brothers until +carried to perfection, which gave to the world the new art of +oil-painting, and so laid all the after ages under the deepest +obligation to them. + +[Illustration: PLATE III.--PORTRAIT OF "TYMOTHEOS" + +(By John van Eyck) + +A Presentation Portrait, probably from the Painter to his friend +"Timothy," a Greek humanist whose Christian name only is known. The +inscription at the foot reads: "Actum anno Domini 1432, 10 die Octobris, +a Iohanne de Eyck." No. 290 in the National Gallery, London. See pages +63, 64.] + +John's apprenticeship ended, and he in turn started on his travels, +Hubert would appear to have removed to Holland, where painters and +miniaturists of the early years of the fifteenth century repeatedly +exhibit marked traces of his influence; where also miniatures in a Book +of Hours, of date 1412 to 1417, to the order of Count William for the +use of his only daughter, the fair and ill-starred Jacqueline, are +judged to have been executed by him on the strength of the many points +of resemblance they bear to the Great Polyptych. The commission of the +latter work itself is now confidently attributed to the same prince. +Observe the prominence given to the tower of Saint Martin's at Utrecht +and the adjacent view of Cöln in the centre-piece, "The Adoration of the +Lamb," and to St. Martin himself, the patron saint of Utrecht, in the +panel of "The Knights of Christ," the banner in his grasp, moreover, +charged with the arms of that town: the Count's territory was in the +diocese of Utrecht and the ecclesiastical province of Cöln. So much +depends on the origin of this commission in apportioning the respective +share each of the brothers had in its execution that the further fact +must not be overlooked that Ghent, for which the great work was +completed, had no sort of connection with either Utrecht or Cöln, being +in the diocese of Tournay and the ecclesiastical province of Rheims, +while the only saint in the altar-piece specially connected with Ghent +who is characterised by an emblem--St. Livin, to wit--was also widely +venerated in Zeeland. Finally, not to labour this aspect of the question +unduly, the inscription on the frame attributes, not the picture's +inception, but its completion, to Jodoc Vyt, the eventual donor--a form +of words so singular as to admit of no other interpretation than the +plain meaning the expression conveys. + +Count William passed away on the 31st of May 1417, leaving an only +child, Jacqueline, aged seventeen, by his wife, Margaret of Burgundy, +who had predeceased him. Her uncle, John of Bavaria, Prince-Bishop of +Liège, an unscrupulous ruffian who clearly paid small deference to +women's rights, at once set himself to rob the unfortunate princess of +her possessions. In September 1418 he marched out on Dordrecht, where he +established his headquarters; Gorcum and other strongholds speedily +succumbed to his arms, and after an interval, during which he married +Elizabeth of Görlitz, Duchess of Luxemburg and widow of Anthony of +Burgundy, Duke of Brabant and Limburg, he finally removed to Holland and +installed himself at The Hague, free now to pursue his nefarious +projects. For thirteen years the country resounded with the clash of +arms and laboured in the rough and tumble of civil warfare: hence an +atmosphere the least congenial to the cultivation and patronage of high +art. The cities of Flanders and Brabant were the gainers by the exodus +of craftsmen that presently set in. Of their number, sooner or later, +was Hubert, who, prior to 1425 at any rate, had already settled at Ghent +and acquired the freedom of that city. News of the unfinished polyptych +remaining on his hands soon came to the ears of Jodoc Vyt, a wealthy +burgher, who eagerly embraced the opportunity of striking the bargain by +which he acquired all rights in the picture and so linked his name and +personality for all time with this ineffable monument of the painter's +art. + +In the centre-piece, "The Adoration of the Lamb" (frontispiece), we +discover the keynote to the scheme of the work, in the Apocalyptic +Vision of St. John the source of its inspiration. The Lamb without spot, +the blood from its breast pouring into a chalice, is stood on an altar, +the white cloth over which bears on its superfrontal the text from the +Vulgate, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the +world," and on its stole-ends the legend, "Jesus, the Way, the Truth, +and the Life." Worshipping angels gather around, some bearing +instruments of the Passion, others swinging censers, their smoke +laden with the prayers of the saints. In the foreground the Fountain +of Life, flowing down through the ages along the gentle slope of +flower-bejewelled sward, or dispensing its waters in vivifying jets from +the gurgoyles beneath the feet and from the vases in the hands of the +winged angel above its standard. To the four quarters groups of the +elect: on the near right those of the Old Law and among the Gentiles who +had lived in expectation of the Redeemer, the balancing group on the +left typical of the New Law--prophets, doctors, philosophers, and +princes in the former, the Apostles, popes, bishops, abbots, deacons, +monks, and clerics among the latter. The corresponding groups back of +the altar represent the army of martyrs whose blood is the seed of the +Church, and the multitude of virgins. Over all, from the Holy Dove +poised high over the altar, dart rays of light, emblematic of the Wisdom +which had inspired their lives and of the fire of Love that had +heartened their sacrifice. A carpet of flowers fills in all the open +space fore of the altar, flowering shrubs and trees that of the +mid-distance, while the entire background is an exquisite example of the +realistic landscape-work that is an abiding charm of the Netherlandish +school. The wonderful harmony of colour appeals at once to the senses; +but more arresting, on nearer acquaintance, for its quality and +felicity, is the wide range of portraiture that distinguishes the piece. +From the two lateral panels in the dexter shutter the Knights of Christ +and the Just Judges are pressing forward to the scene of the Vision, +from the corresponding ones in the sinister shutter the Holy Hermits and +the Holy Pilgrims: the former on spirited horses--an animal for which +the painter evinces a special affection--the latter on foot. These +panels are even more remarkable perhaps than the centre-piece for the +diversity and multiplicity of the types portrayed, and for the wealth of +landscape relieved by bird life lavished in their embellishment. + +The "Adoration of the Lamb" is dominated in the upper zone by a triple +panel, the centre framing the Almighty enthroned in majesty, whose is +the kingdom, the power, and the glory--a supreme conception of the +Eternal Father, unequalled for majestic stillness of face, intellectual +power of brow, and depth and placidity of vision; on His right is the +Mother of Christ, testifying to the full the lowliness of the handmaiden +of the Lord, on His left St. John the Baptist, an earnest type, long of +hair and rugged of beard, barefooted, and in a raiment of brown camel's +hair girdled about the loins, intensifying the austerity of life +ordained for him who was to prepare the way of the Lord and make +straight His paths. In the "Choir of Angels" (Plate II.), which is the +subject of the first lateral panel in the dexter shutter, we have one +of the choicest gems of the polyptych, and it affords us a measure of +the distance the realistic tendencies of the painter had carried him +from the traditions of the mystic school. Justified by the warrant of +Scripture, he translates these spirit beings into purely human frames, +but with a nerve system attuned to material sensations. In these angels +there is no suggestion of trance-like ecstasy in contemplation of the +Beatific Vision; they are angels materialised whose features reflect the +strain of sustained effort and the underlying sense of pain which in man +is inseparable from the sensing of intense joy. Evidently the master had +fathomed the secrets of the human heart: the sense possibilities of the +spirit world were without his ken, so he humanised his angels and +evolved types understandable of the people, and at the same time one of +the finest angel groups of all art. So inexpressibly realistic are his +conceptions that to the poet-biographer Van Mander, at any rate, it was +actually possible to discern "the different key in which the voice of +each is pitched." But poets are privileged beings. Accompanying the +Choir in their song of praise with organ, harp, and viol are the +balancing group of angels in the corresponding compartment of the +sinister shutter, types that, strangely enough, are in striking contrast +to the former, their features moulded in placid contentment. The extreme +panels of this zone are occupied by life-size presentations of our First +Parents after the Fall, nude figures painted from the life, with +absolute fidelity to nature and masterly conception of type: in a +demi-lunette over the figure of Adam we see Cain and Abel making their +offerings unto the Lord, and in that over Eve the slaying of Abel at the +hands of his brother. There is a tradition extant that the altar-piece +was originally furnished with a predella painted in distemper, a picture +probably of Limbo or of Purgatory, but no trace of this remains. + +[Illustration: PLATE IV.--PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER'S FATHER-IN-LAW + +(By John van Eyck) + +The subject of this painting has only within recent months been +identified as the father of Margaret van Eyck, with whose portrait, +reproduced in Plate VII., it should be compared. The framework bears +along the upper border the Painter's simple motto "Als ich can," and at +the foot "Iohannes de Eyck me fecit anno 1433, 21 Octobris." No. 222 in +the National Gallery, London. See page 76.] + +The closed shutters display, filling in the full width of the middle +zone, the scene of the Annunciation. The Ethyrean Sibyl and the Cumaean +Sibyl occupy the demi-lunettes above the middle portion of the Virgin's +chamber, the lunettes above the lateral divisions showing half-length +figures of the Prophets Zacharias and Micheas. Of the four compartments +of the lower zone the inner ones contain statues in grisaille of St. +John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the outer ones figures in +the attitude of prayer, eminently life-like, of the donor, Jodoc Vyt, +and his wife, Elizabeth Borluut. Jodoc was the second son of Sir +Nicholas Vyt, Receiver of Flanders,--a wealthy citizen who owned the +lordships of Pamele and Leedberghe, besides several mansions in Ghent, +of which city he was burgomaster in 1433-34, after filling various minor +municipal offices: by no means a handsome type, though manifestly a +capable and kindly burgher, well-set, with a somewhat low forehead, +small grey eyes, and a large mouth with broad under-lip; neither do the +short-cropped hair and growing baldness or the three warts on upper-lip, +nose, and forehead make for attractiveness. In respect of looks his wife +is the better favoured, striking the beholder as an indulgent lady, with +much of the homely dignity and serenity of the finer type of Flemish +matron. + +The Great Polyptych had not yet reached completion when, on the 18th of +September 1426 Hubert van Eyck passed away after a painful illness. How +much of the work remained to be accomplished none can tell with any hope +of approach to certainty. A whole volume would not suffice for a +critical examination of the mass of contending theories that for the +best part of a century has been squandered in the endeavour to allocate +to the two brothers their respective shares in the execution of the +picture. Remember that it had already been some ten years in the making, +and that, although it did not receive its final touches from the brush +of John van Eyck until 1432, nearly six years after his brother's death, +this period of John's life, as we shall presently discover, was too +fully occupied in the service of Duke Philip of Burgundy to have allowed +of his spending any considerable proportion of it in the task of +completion. Remembering also that John's art had been closely modelled +on that of his brother, that none better comprehended his ideals or was +more intimately acquainted with the working out of his conceptions, +mindful, moreover, of the deep veneration in which he held his +master's genius, we must suppose that he realised the obligation of +conscientiously adhering to the art and technique of the picture as he +found it, any obtruding originality in violation of which would have +amounted almost to sacrilege: all this further enhances the difficulty +of differentiating between the work of the two painters. Indeed, if so +minded, the reader is probably as well equipped as the writer to solve +the puzzle. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--JOHN ARNOLFINI AND JOAN CENANI, HIS WIFE + +(By John van Eyck) + +An incomparable example of the Master's varied gifts, and a valuable +study of contemporary dress and domestic furniture. Joan Cenani is +presumed to have been a younger sister of Margaret van Eyck, with +whose portrait, reproduced in Plate VII., it should be compared. +The carved frame of the mirror on the far wall enshrines ten small +medallions, exquisite miniatures representing the Agony in the Garden, +the Betrayal and St. Peter's Assault on Malchus, Christ led before +Pilate, the Scourging at the Pillar, the Carrying of the Cross, Calvary, +the Deposition, the Entombment, the Descent into Limbo, and the +Resurrection. On the wall above the mirror we read the precise +statement, "Iohannes de eyck fuit hic 1434." No. 186 in the National +Gallery, London. See page 67.] + +Hubert van Eyck was laid to rest in the crypt of the chapel for which he +had painted his masterpiece, but in 1533, when chapel and crypt had to +make way for a new aisle, his remains were transferred to the +churchyard, all except the bone of the right fore-arm, which was +suspended in an iron casket in the porch of the Cathedral. The brass +plate bearing the well-known epitaph was at the same time placed in the +transept, only to become the spoil of the Calvinist Iconoclasts in 1578, +when already the casket had somehow or other long since disappeared. But +what of the painter's fame, to whose workshop laymen of the highest +distinction had felt it a privilege to be admitted, about whose easel +journeymen painters had flocked, and whom the leading contemporary +artists of the Netherlands had been proud to call master? During his +lifetime, and for a considerable period after his death, his was a +dominating influence in the Art of the North, and Van Mander has it on +record that whenever the polyptych was freely exposed to the public gaze +crowds flocked to it from morning till night "like flies and bees in +summer round a basket of figs and grapes." But in the stress and turmoil +of succeeding generations his memory gradually faded away; his work, +uncared for, lost hold on the imagination; even his great masterwork +narrowly escaped destruction. Even so it did not escape dismemberment, +or profanation at the hands of the "restorer." Saved from the fury of +the Iconoclasts in 1566, and subsequently rescued from the Calvinist +leaders who contemplated its offer to Queen Elizabeth in acknowledgment +of her subsidies, it eventually became the spoil of the French +Republicans; but after the battle of Waterloo restitution was effected, +and the main portion of the altar-piece, all that remains of it in +Ghent, was reinstated in its present position. The Adam and Eve panels, +which in 1781 had offended the unsuspected modesty of Joseph II., and in +consequence been deferentially removed, were ultimately ceded to the +Belgian Government, and now rest in the Royal Gallery at Brussels; while +the other six shutter panels, which had been safeguarded through the +French occupation, were shamelessly sold to a dealer in 1816 by the +Vicar-General and churchwardens--in the absence, it is right to say, of +the Bishop--for a paltry 3000 florins, subsequently changing hands for +100,000 francs, and eventually becoming the property of the Prussian +Government for four times that amount. + + + + +IV + +IN THE SERVICE OF BURGUNDY + + +During the five years that followed the death of William IV., Count of +Holland and Zeeland, the usurping John of Bavaria had so far succeeded +in asserting his power as to be able to permit his interest to wander to +the lighter occupations of life, the while the niece he had dispossessed +was supplementing the tale of her political woes with all the domestic +misery attendant upon a succession of unhappy marriages. Thus in 1422 we +find John van Eyck attached to the Count's household as painter and +"varlet de chambre," and, as we gather from the prince's household +accounts, engaged in the decoration of the palace at The Hague from the +24th of October in that year till the 11th of September 1424. Another +member of the household at the time was his kinsman, Henry van Eyck, the +record of whose faithful services won him in February 1425 the post of +master of the hunt to Jacqueline's second husband, John IV., Duke of +Brabant. John of Bavaria died on the 25th of January 1425, and, as might +have been expected, civil war immediately broke out. The situation +proving uncongenial, the whilom court painter lost no time in taking the +road to Flanders, where Philip III., Duke of Burgundy, was lording it +as the most munificent patron of the arts and sciences and of letters. +With a keen eye for available talent, this princely despot at once +enlisted him in his service. No doubt he had become acquainted with +the Van Eycks during his residence at Ghent in the days of his +heir-apparentship and before the younger artist's removal to The Hague; +probably the portrait of Michelle of France, the Duke's first wife (who +died in July 1422), copies of which exist, was painted by John: at any +rate we have Philip's own words for the fact that it was personal +knowledge of John's skill that determined his appointment on the 19th of +May 1425 as painter and "varlet de chambre," with "all the honours, +privileges, rights, profits, and emoluments" attaching to the office; +moreover, with characteristic prudence, he secured a first lien on his +services by awarding him a retaining fee--call it salary or call it +pension--equivalent to £5, 11s. 1-1/3d. in contemporary English +currency, or anything from ten to twelve times that sum at the present +day. + +Having made good his position, John's first move apparently was in the +interest of his kinsman, for whom he secured the position of falconer in +the ducal household. As we have no further concern with this member of +the Van Eyck family, it may be said that in 1436 he was employed by the +Duke on a secret mission of some importance, that on the occasion of his +marriage in 1444 to the daughter of the master-falconer Philip made him +a present of 100_l._, and that in 1461 he became baillie of the town and +territory of Termonde, continuing in that office, with the additional +distinctions of councillor and chamberlain to the Duke, besides a +knighthood, until his death in November 1466. + +The new court painter was something more than a master of his art: +a man evidently of sterling qualities of mind and heart, of wide +accomplishments and business capacity--in every way _persona grata_ +at the most brilliant court of the age. Not many months after his +appointment he removed to Lille by order and at the expense of the Duke, +by whom also was paid the rent of the house he occupied there from 1426 +to 1428, from midsummer to midsummer. Of his professional work at this +period nothing is known. The chroniclers in the Duke's service did not +concern themselves with such minor matters. As De Comines himself +boasted, they wrote "not for the amusement of brutes and people of low +degree, but for princes and other persons of quality," little bethinking +themselves what store the after ages would have set by their gossip had +it busied itself with the doings, for example, of court painters. In +other respects, however, we are better served, and in the early part of +1426 we find John van Eyck commissioned, after the pious custom of the +time, to undertake a pilgrimage in the interest of the ducal health, and +in August of the same year despatched on some distant foreign mission. +His return was saddened by tidings of the death of his brother Hubert, +who had passed away in his absence. Further tokens of the ducal favour +in 1427 took the form of presents of 20_l._ and 100_l._ respectively. + +Duke Philip's matrimonial ventures hitherto had not been crowned with +success. Neither his first wife, Michelle of France, nor Bonne of +Artois, whom he wedded and lost within the ten months (she died in +September 1425), had provided him with an heir. Anxious to secure the +succession in the direct line, towards the middle of 1427 he despatched +ambassadors to the court of Alphonsus V., King of Aragon, to obtain for +him the hand of Isabella, eldest daughter of James II., Count of Urgel, +and John van Eyck was attached to the mission. Arriving at Barcelona in +July, only to find that the earthquakes in Catalonia had driven the +Court to escape by sea to Valencia, the embassy followed in the royal +track and reached this city early in August, in time for the floral +games and bull-fight with which the Jurats honoured the King. The +mission led to nothing, not even to a portrait of the princess, who in +September 1428 was married to Peter, Duke of Coimbra, third son of John +I., King of Portugal; but it is interesting to find Alphonsus V. in +later years acquiring paintings by Van Eyck for his collection. The +return journey included a short halt at Tournay, where the magistrates +very appropriately paid Van Eyck the compliment of a wine of honour on +the 18th of October, St. Luke's Day, the local guild, moreover--Robert +Campin, Roger de la Pasture, and James Daret doubtless distinguished +among its members--being favoured with his company in the celebration of +the feast of its patron saint. A like wine of honour was presented to +the ambassadors on the 20th. + +An illuminating dispute between the Duke, the Receiver of Flanders, and +John van Eyck helped to relieve the tedium of life in the intervals of +employment on foreign missions at this stage of the painter's career. +Philip's munificence was largely tempered by prudent frugality in the +ordering of his household, and in the process of curtailing his domestic +expenses in 1426 he published an edict bearing date December 14 +regulating its constitution and the wages of its members. By some +inadvertence John's name was omitted from the new roll, and the Receiver +of Flanders summarily stopped payment of his salary. An ineffectual +protest was lodged, complaints followed reinforced by threats, to +such good purpose that eventually, though not until after many months' +persistent badgering, the aggrieved party emerged with flying colours +from the triangular duel, securing letters patent under date March 3, +1428, confirming his appointment and commanding the payment of all +arrears. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI.--THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, ST. DONATIAN AND ST. +GEORGE, AND CANON G. VAN DER PAELE + +(By John van Eyck) + +The largest but one of the Painter's works, unfortunately damaged by +cleaning and clumsy retouching, while the general effect is marred by a +thick coating of cloudy varnish. The white shame-cloth about the Child's +loins is a later addition. At the foot on the original frame we read: +"Hoc opus fecit fieri magister Georgius de Pala huius ecclesie canonicus +per Iohannem de Eyck pictorem: ... completum anno 1436°." In the Town +Gallery, Bruges. See page 74.] + +Of the many paintings executed by John van Eyck to which no precise date +can be attached not one can with certainty be ascribed to this period, +and yet it is difficult to believe that his duties in the three years he +had already spent in the ducal service were exclusively of a +non-professional character: surely the lost portrait of Bonne of Artois +as Duchess of Burgundy, a copy of which is preserved in the store-room +of the Royal Gallery at Berlin, was his work. The years immediately +following, however, yielded a rich harvest of brilliant pictures, first +among which, chronologically, two portraits of the Infanta Isabella of +Portugal. Philip, on matrimonial projects still intent, was now turning +his attention from the Courts of Spain to the neighbouring one of +Portugal, and in the autumn of 1428 he decided on an embassy to John I. +The mission was a princely one: at its head Sir John de Lannoy, +councillor and first chamberlain; associated with whom were Sir Baldwin +de Lannoy, governor of Lille--at some later date, too, a subject for our +painter's brush--high dignitaries of the court and some of the leading +gentry, a secretary, cupbearer, steward, clerk of accounts, and two +pursuivants, and last, but not least, John van Eyck, whose relative +standing may be gathered from the fact that in the distribution of +gratuities at the ceremony of leave-taking only that of the chief +ambassador exceeded his, the respective sums being 200_l._ and 160_l._ +The mission, distributed between two Venetian galleys, sailed out of +Sluus harbour on the 19th of October and arrived the next day at +Sandwich, where three or four weeks were spent awaiting a further escort +of two galleys from London. Forced by contrary winds to seek shelter, +first at Shoreham and then at Plymouth and Falmouth, it was not till the +2nd of December that the convoy sailed out into the ocean. Nine days +later they were at Bayona, a small seaport of Galicia, where they +delayed three days, their long sea journey at length terminating on the +16th at Cascaës, whence they travelled overland to Lisbon. In the +absence of the Court a letter explaining the object of the mission was +entrusted to the herald Flanders, who pursued the King from Estremóz to +Arrayollos and Aviz, in the province of Alemtéjo, where the embassy at +last had audience of his Majesty on the 13th of January and presented to +him the Duke's letters soliciting the hand of his daughter Isabella. The +while the ambassadors were discussing their master's proposals with the +King's Council John van Eyck was at his easel painting the Infanta's +portrait, two copies of which were executed and despatched to the Court +of Burgundy, one by sea and the other by land, the better to ensure safe +delivery, with duplicate accounts of the mission's doings to date. The +Duke's reply did not arrive until the 4th of June. A pilgrimage to Saint +James of Compostella, and visits to John II., King of Castile, to the +Duke of Arjona, a prince of the same royal blood, and to Mohammed, King +of the City of Grenada, agreeably filled in the interval of waiting, Van +Eyck naturally missing no opportunity of acquaintance with the leading +painters of the day, enlarging the scope of his own observation, and no +doubt leaving behind him the impress of his mastery. That the name of +Van Eyck was already one to conjure with in these distant realms appears +from the traditional ascription to him of a mass of painting certainly +in his manner, but vastly too great to have ever been conceived by him +within the limits of his stay in Portugal. Take that finest of all +pictures there, the "Fons Vitae" in the board-room of the Misericordia +at Oporto, and the series of twelve paintings in the Episcopal Palace at +Evoca, locally claimed for Van Eyck; likewise the pictures in the church +of S. Francisco at Evoca, in the round church of the Templars at Thomar, +and elsewhere, which are at any rate thought there to be not unworthy of +his technique, and scarcely inferior to his best masterpieces for +brilliancy of colouring and beauty of portraiture. The one regrettable +circumstance in relation to this visit to Portugal is that both +portraits of the Infanta are to be numbered among the lost certain +treasures of his art. + +On their return to Lisbon in the closing days of May the embassy +rejoined the Court at Cintra on the ensuing 4th by special request of +the king, and the Duke of Burgundy's reply came to hand the same +evening: the princess's portrait had been to the Duke's liking. All +the preliminaries being now in order events sped on apace, to the +signing of the marriage contract at Lisbon on the 29th of July and +the solemnisation of the espousals a day later; and after a period of +brilliant festivities the bridal party, to the number of some two +thousand, set sail for the land of Flanders. A fortnight later four +weather-beaten ships, the Infanta's of the number, lumbered into Vivero +harbour in Galicia, followed later by a fifth: the remainder of the +original fleet of fourteen, after battling with contrary winds, had been +effectually dispersed in the subsequent storm. Again a start was made +on the 6th of November, but the state of prostration to which Sir John +de Lannoy had been reduced by sea-sickness compelled a further delay of +over a fortnight at Ribadeu. Here the convoy was reinforced by two +Florentine galleys, also bound for Flanders, and on the 25th they +eventually made good their leave of Portuguese waters. The afflicted +ambassador, with members of his suite, had meanwhile transferred to the +Florentine galleys, a step that nearly cost them their lives, as these +vessels narrowly escaped shipwreck in the vicinity of the Land's End. +The other five ships put into Plymouth harbour on the 29th, but the +Florentines pushed on to Sluus, where they cast anchor on the 6th of +December, Sir John de Lannoy making all speed to the Duke with the glad +tidings of the Infanta's safe arrival in English waters. The +preparations for her reception were quickly followed by the coming of +the bride, who safely accomplished her long journey's end on Christmas +Day. In the midst of a carnival of popular rejoicing the union was +solemnised at Bruges on the 7th of January 1430. + +John van Eyck's absence had extended to slightly over fourteen months, +during which, seemingly, the two portraits of the Infanta were the sole +yield of his art, except we couple with them the picture known as "La +belle Portugaloise" and another portrait of a Portuguese maiden of which +only verbal descriptions have come down to us. In the light of all the +compelling evidence of John's consummate love of Nature, amply displayed +in the mass of landscape work that enriches many of his finest +productions, one cannot help but be struck by the fact that he never +appears to have realised the possibilities of seascape as an avenue of +Art. Only in one small panel do we remember any deviation from the type +of slow-running river water that he usually affected, and there we are +shown small craft exposed to the mean spiteful choppiness of a +wind-exposed estuary, an unconvincing picture from the utter monotony of +treatment of beaten water. Is it possible that the sea in all of its +countless moods failed in its appeal to the aesthetic sense of the +master, with its infinite variety of elemental energy and its chaste +exuberance of exquisite colouring, with all the untold modulations, +moreover, in that great symphony of the ocean which stirs so deeply the +soul of the true poet? Or was it that the message baffled the +apprehension of the artist, and left him helpless to respond to the +call? Whatever the answer--or be it that, like his leader De Lannoy, he +found the sea so severe a taskmaster in the more matter-of-fact sense as +to blunt the edge of his finer feelings--whatever the answer, prolific +as Art had already proved through the centuries by the manifold and +luscious fruits it had borne, evidently it had not yet attained to the +fulness of time in which it was to bring forth its apocalypse of the +sea; nor was John van Eyck its consecrate expositor. + + + + +V + +PERIOD OF GREAT ENDEAVOUR + + +We have now reached the most important period in our painter's career, +coinciding from end to end with his residence in the Flemish +capital, where he died on the 9th of July 1441--a period of over ten +years, in which he produced the ten dated masterpieces we are about to +review, besides a large unfinished triptych and a number of other +paintings to which no exact date can be affixed. Hardly had he taken up +his quarters in Bruges than the Duke summoned him to Hesdin to receive +instructions with regard to the work on which he was to be employed. +Meanwhile, no doubt, Jodoc Vyt had secured his services for the +completion of the Ghent Polyptych: probably it had been an understood +thing all along that John was to finish the work at the first +opportunity. From the account of his movements during the five years +that had elapsed since his brother's death it is obvious that he could +have spared but very brief intervals of leisure for what must, after +all, have been to him a labour of love; the conclusion being that +whatever proportion of the sixteen months immediately following his +return from Portugal he was able to devote to the picture must stand for +his share in the monumental altar-piece that at Hubert's death had +already been ten years in the making. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.--PORTRAIT OF MARGARET VAN EYCK THE PAINTER'S +WIFE + +(By John van Eyck) + +The daughter of the subject of Plate IV. and probably the sister of Joan +Cenani in Plate V., with both of which it should be compared. In the +Town Gallery, Bruges. See page 66.] + +In the early days of December 1431 Cardinal Albergati, special +ambassador from Pope Martin V. to the Courts of France, Burgundy, and +England with a view to bringing about a general peace, spent three days +at the Charterhouse in Bruges as the honoured guest of the Duke, from +whom Van Eyck received urgent instructions to paint the portrait that is +now the property of the Imperial Gallery at Vienna. The time being all +too short for the purpose, John had to be content with the exquisite +drawing in silver-point on a white ground which is still preserved in +the Royal Cabinet of Prints at Dresden, and which is particularly +interesting because of the marginal memoranda in pencil embodying the +most minute observations in the artist's own handwriting for his +guidance in the execution of the painting. A remarkable portrait of a +most remarkable man: for this prince of the Church, a humble son of the +austere Order of the Carthusians, though raised to the Cardinalate and +time after time called upon to serve the Holy See on important +embassies requiring consummate prudence in regard to matters of temporal +policy, discarding his family arms for a simple cross, persevered to the +end in such austerities of the cloister as the wearing of a hair shirt, +total abstinence from flesh-meat, and the use of bare straw for his rude +pallet: a type that must have appealed to Van Eyck, for the picture is a +valuable index of the painter's genius for portraiture. In or about +August of the following year the Burgomasters and Town Council honoured +John with a visit to his workshop, to inspect the various pictures he +was then engaged on. Among these, probably, was the portrait of +"Tymotheos," bearing date October 10, 1432, acquired by the National +Gallery in 1857 for the modest sum of £189, 11s. (Plate III.), and the +"Our Lady and Child" in the collection at Ince Hall, Ince Blundell, +Liverpool, although it was not completed till 1433. The latter is a +delightful instance of the singular love of domesticity which Van Eyck +exemplifies with supreme confidence and success in the Arnolfini +tableau, of which more anon. In the former we have a man verging on +middle age, with dark complexion, blue eyes, angular features, heavy +jaw, thick lips, prominent cheekbones and uplifted nose; presumably a +Greek humanist and a friend of the painter, from the man's Christian +name on the parapet being in Greek character and the manuscript roll he +holds in his hand, and from the inscription "Léal Souvenir": by no means +a handsome type, but true to nature, and presented with all the charm +that Van Eyck was able to endow his least promising subjects with, the +modelling being excellent, and the harmonious colouring aptly relieved +by a dark background. + +Somewhere about this time John's thoughts, somewhat later in life than +was the custom of the age, must have been turning on matrimony on his +own account, for we find him purchasing a house in the parish of Saint +Giles, a quarter much affected by painters, and shortly afterwards +engaged on a portrait of the man appointed to be his father-in-law; and +we can picture the Duke, with whom he was ever a special favourite, +being made the confidant of his intentions on the occasion of his visit +to Van Eyck's workshop on the 19th of February 1433, and pleasantly +encouraging him with a promise to stand sponsor for his first-born. At +any rate the wedding took place, and in due course Sir Peter de +Beaufremont, Lord of Chargny, held the infant at the baptismal font as +proxy for Philip, whose present took the form of six silver cups +weighing 12 marks, the order for payment of the account, amounting to +96_l._ 12_s._, to a local goldsmith, John Peutin, bearing date June 30, +1434; and this is the nearest approach we can get at to the date of +either event. Indeed, we have no information as to the sex of the child, +nor are we even acquainted with the maiden name of Van Eyck's wife, +though it has been suggested, with some show of reason, that she was a +sister of Joan Cenani, the wife of John Arnolfini, already referred to; +and it is only within quite recent days that the painting in the +National Gallery commonly spoken of as "the man with the turban" has +been identified, on purely scientific lines, as the portrait of her +father. If the reader will compare this likeness (Plate IV.) with that +of Margaret van Eyck (Plate VII.) he must immediately be struck by the +close resemblance that irresistibly suggests the relationship: the +marvel is that the absolute identity of features in the two portraits +escaped notice so long. The fanciful style of head-dress, except it was +intended to symbolise occupation or profession, remains a puzzle; for it +is difficult to conceive a man of his earnest and dignified disposition +masquerading in strange attire for the mere sake of effect. The best +authorities speak of him as a well-to-do merchant--specialising perhaps +in Eastern wares, such as crowded the marts of the Flemish capital in +the heyday of its prosperity--apparently about sixty-five years of age, +the face being delicately painted in reddish-brown tones, and showing +every detail with uttermost faithfulness, even to the pleats of the +eyelids and at the root of the nose, and to every vein and wrinkle of +the forehead. It is one of the finest exemplifications of John's rare +gift of portraiture, the pleasing modesty of the artist--as revealed in +the inscription "Als ich kan" (to the best of my ability)--adding, +indeed, to the charm of the picture, which bears date October 21, 1433, +and passed into the keeping of the National Gallery in 1851 for the sum +of £315. + +It is difficult to refrain from what would appear an over-use of the +superlative in dealing with John van Eyck's works, but if the writer +might be allowed an indulgence he would unhesitatingly avail himself of +it to the full in connection with the exquisite panel (Plate V.) for the +possession of which we are indebted to the honourable wounds which were +the seal of Major-General Hay's part in the battle of Waterloo. After +wandering about Europe as the cherished possession first of Don Diego de +Guevara, councillor of Maximilian and Archduke Charles and Major-domo of +Joan, Queen of Castile; next of Margaret of Austria, Governess of the +Netherlands; subsequently of Mary of Hungary, and eventually of Charles +III. of Spain, it fell into the acquisitive hands of the French invader +of the Peninsula, and by some strange freak of fortune strayed to the +apartments at Brussels in which the gallant major-general was nursed to +recovery, from whose landlord he purchased it, the National Gallery in +the end becoming its owner, in 1842, for the trifling sum of £730. It is +the picture of a newly married couple in a homely Flemish interior, and +in their attempts to solve an imaginary riddle critics have given their +somewhat prolific powers of imagination an unusually free rein. For +instance, the peculiar manner in which the bride sustains the gathered +folds of her skirt--shown by comparison with figures of virgin saints in +other of Van Eyck's paintings to have been a passing fashion of the day, +if an ungraceful one--suggested to some the near approach of her +lying-in, the bedstead in the background as well as the figure of St. +Margaret (a favourite of women in expectation of childbirth) surmounting +the back of the arm-chair naturally tending to confirm the impression; +in corroboration of which the attitude of husband and wife--though the +direction of look in neither lends support to the theory--is explained +as a venture in chiromancy, the adept bridegroom endeavouring to read in +the lines of his wife's hand the future of the coming infant: a +variant elucidation representing the husband as solemnly protesting his +paternity to an inexistent crowd of neighbours at the open door, seeing +that the ingenious reflection of the scene in the circular convex mirror +on the far wall reveals but two additional figures, probably the painter +and his apprentice. Without recourse to fancy, the attitude of +bridegroom and bride, hand in hand, might readily have been seen to +symbolise the perfect union begot of a happy marriage. John's love of +domesticity is abundantly displayed in all the detail of the work--the +chandelier, with lighted taper, dependent from the ceiling, the aumbry +with its couple of oranges, the cushioned bench by the window, the +dainty pair of red shoes on the carpet by the bedside, the pattens of +white wood with black leather latchets in the foreground, even to the +dusting-brush hung on the arm-chair, and the pet griffin terrier, all +helping to heighten the intimacy of the scene; while the cherry-tree in +full bloom, seen through the open window against a sky of clear blue, +serves to fix the season of the year in which the picture was painted. +The portraits are of John Arnolfini and Joan Cenani: the former, in +later years, was knighted and appointed a chamberlain at his court by +Duke Philip, and from the circumstance of his burial in the chapel of +the Lucchese merchants at the Austin Friars' we may presume both his +nationality and calling; the latter, considered in respect of certain +features, especially the eyes, eyebrows, and nose, suggests a sufficient +likeness to warrant the surmise that she was a younger sister of Van +Eyck's wife. The panel, which is in an almost perfect state of +preservation, is a fine example of the painter's vigour of delineation +and perfect blending of colour, both as regards the interior and the +figures, the transparency of shadow in the flesh-tints showing the +utmost delicacy of touch. The picture bears date 1434. + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--THE VIRGIN AND CHILD, AND CHANCELLOR ROLIN + +(By -- van Eyck) + +Whether the work of Hubert or of John is still in dispute: hence an +interesting example for the critical student of their respective arts. +Nicholas Rolin was born in 1376, was created Chancellor of Burgundy and +Brabant on December 3, 1422, and died January 18, 1462. The landscape in +the background is distinctly reminiscent of the scenery about +Maastricht, the alma mater of the Van Eycks. The general effect of the +picture is marred by an unpleasant coating of yellow varnish. Date +uncertain. In the Louvre, Paris. See page 78.] + +About this time Van Eyck was once more in trouble with the Receiver of +Flanders and his officials. Philip, adding one more to the many marks of +favour reserved for his predilect painter, had bestowed on him a +life-pension of 4320_l._ in lieu of the salary of 100_l._ parisis +awarded him at the time of his engagement. In the absence of any +explanation of this enormous increase, the mystified accountants at +Lille declined registration of the letters patent; but they were +speedily brought to their senses by John's threat, without further waste +of words, to throw up his appointment there and then: so they referred +the matter back to the Duke, who by letters of March 12, 1435, commanded +immediate registration of the patent and payment of the pension under +penalty of his extreme displeasure, protesting that, being about to +employ Van Eyck on works of the highest importance, he "could not find +another painter equally to his taste or of such excellence in his art +and science." Matters being thus satisfactorily composed, John was free +to attend to his patron's behests; in addition to which he had the +gilding and polychroming in 1435 of six of the eight statues of counts +and countesses of Flanders executed by local sculptors for the front of +the new Townhouse, probably from his own designs. Yet another present of +six silver cups, perhaps as a salve for his wounded feelings, and +employment on a further secret mission to distant parts in 1436 testify +to the Duke's abiding trust and approbation. These undertakings, +however, did not exhaust the painter's marvellous capacity for work, for +this year also witnessed the completion of one of the largest of his +pictures, the altar-piece to the order of Canon Van der Paele, for the +collegiate church of Saint Donatian at Bruges (Plate VI.), which since +its recovery from the French in 1815 has graced the collection of the +local Town Gallery. John's love of the Romanesque probably accounts for +his neglect of the architecture of that church in designing the apse of +the transept in which the Virgin and Child sit enthroned, but the scenic +effect produced by his treatment of the series of round arches on +cylindrical columns and of the pillared ambulatory goes far to +compensate for the omission; the beauty of the picture being further +enhanced by the ornate carving of the capitals and throne, the gorgeous +display of cloth-of-gold and tapestry, and the rich variety of dress and +costume, culminating in all the splendour of the archiepiscopal +vestments, yet not so overpowering as to dwarf interest in the noble +countenance of the wearer. Howbeit, the artist was singularly +unfortunate in the subjects appointed to pose for the Virgin and St. +George, while the Divine Child is probably the least pleasing of his +Infant Christs. St. Donatian, however, and the homely yet dignified +ecclesiastic typified as the Donor, largely redeem the figure-work from +the charge of insignificance. It would appear that the life-size bust of +Canon Van der Paele at Hampton Court Palace was a study for the +full-length portrait, for at the time the altar-piece was being executed +the worthy Canon was already so feeble that since September 1434 he had +been dispensed by the Chapter from attendance in choir on the score of +infirmity and advanced age. + +The "Portrait of John De Leeuw, goldsmith," in the Imperial Gallery at +Vienna (1436), and two charming pictures in the Antwerp Museum--"Saint +Barbara" (1437) and the "Our Lady and Child by a Fountain" (1439)--come +next in order of the artist's dated pieces, the series closing with the +"Portrait of Margaret van Eyck" (Plate VII.) in the Town Gallery at +Bruges, which bears date June 17, 1439: a work of marvellous delicacy +and finish, and a tribute of love worthy alike of the painter-husband +and his devoted wife; the latter an intelligent type of the competent +Flemish housewife, clear and steady of eye and firm of mouth, portrayed +with infinite minuteness and not the least concession to vanity. +Formerly the property of the Guild of Painters and Saddlers, it used +annually to be exhibited in their chapel on St. Luke's Day, amply +secured, if we believe the popular legend, with chain and padlock, +because of the companion picture, Van Eyck's own portrait, having been +stolen through lack of similar precautions. + +The sad loss to Art sustained by John van Eyck's death on the 9th of +July 1441 is accentuated by the unfinished state in which he left the +great triptych on which he was engaged for Nicholas van Maelbeke, +Provost of Saint Martin's at Ypres, his largest painting and, had he but +lived to complete it, in every respect his masterpiece. As a member of +the Duke's household John was buried within the precincts of the +collegiate church of St. Donatian, and his remains finally laid to rest +some months later within the building, near the font; and an anniversary +Requiem Mass, founded at the time, continued to be celebrated until the +French invasion in 1792. In death as in life Duke Philip never forgot +his faithful friend and servant: within a few days of his decease he +sought to solace the widow's grief with a gratuity of 360_l._ in token +of his appreciation of the great master whose death they all mourned, +and years after he graciously assisted Livina, the one surviving child +of the marriage, and a sister of his own godchild, to enter the Convent +of St. Agnes at Maaseyck. + + + + +A NOTE IN CONCLUSION + + +However representative the great masterpieces which it has been possible +to notice within the scope of this monograph, we are far yet from +having covered the art of the Van Eycks; and, strangely enough, the same +difficulty that is met in apportioning to each his share in the Great +Polyptych recurs when seeking to ascribe a number of other paintings +which are certainly the work of one or other of the brothers. The study +of these will always appeal to the intelligent student of their art, and +as a typical example of the group we present the altar-piece known as +"The Blessed Virgin and Child and Chancellor Rolin" (Plate VIII.), in +the Louvre, Paris: a remarkable work in respect of types, of +portraiture, and of landscape, every detail of which has been elaborated +to a degree scarcely conceivable. Many other of their paintings are to +be found scattered over Europe, along with much that is the work of +copyist, pupil, or imitator, too often with idle claims to authenticity; +for the influence of the Van Eycks was coextensive with the art world of +their day. Truthfulness, it has been observed, was the dominant note of +their art, and by their sedulous cultivation of Truth they dominated the +art of their age. With John this love of truth amounted well-nigh to a +passion; and the reproach of the carping critic to whom beauty of +feature alone makes for beauty of portraiture fails of its effect on the +true artist mind, to whom the faithful record of all trifling blemishes +of the face is but an added testimony and guarantee of the fidelity of +the portrait as a portrait of the inner as well as of the outer man. +Even a great painter may enhance his present popularity and widen his +clientèle by a flattering suppression of personal disfigurement, but +only to the injury of his fame and the hurt of his own self-respect. +John van Eyck scorned to grovel at the feet of Vanity, and with this +acknowledgment of the sense and honesty of his sitters he combined the +fulfilment of a duty to posterity, for with the true instinct of genius +he knew that he was painting not for his own brief day, but for all +time, and that, as the founder of a great school of portraiture and the +father of landscape art, it behoved him to set an example of the +cardinal principle which should direct them. Under any conditions John +van Eyck's genius must have asserted itself, but happily it was +fortunate in its setting, for the brilliancy of the great Burgundian +court and the sumptuous patronage of Duke Philip in the full blaze of +his power and glory were invaluable aids to the production and +dissemination of his art. Nor did success spoil his sterling nature: +amidst all the triumphs of his life his character remained singularly +free from the tarnish of empty pride, to the last the exquisite yield of +his art being given to the world in a charming spirit of apology so +aptly embodied in the simple motto of his choosing, "Als ich kan." And +who among all the great painters of the after ages has done better? + + + The plates are printed by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London + The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +PLATE IV. reference to page 76 changed to 66, as that is the page which +actually references this Plate. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41798 *** |