Artistic space #175 - Meet Jan Van Eyck
Meet Jan Van Eyck
Today we will continue discovering one of the most outstanding artists of Flemish painting, one of the most controversial genres due to its satire directed mainly to the Catholic Church. Today it is Jan Van Eyck's turn. Join me in learning more about the life and work of this influential painter.
Born in the Netherlands in 1395, he is perhaps one of the most influential painters of his time due to his renovating style of Gothic painting. His influence is so great that most of the urban legends that persist about the painter are due to the fact that the creation of oil painting is attributed to him, although the date of the appearance of oil painting is in 1100, although it is true that Van Eyck along with his brothers were the first to use oil on board, creating paintings with amazing details, not only incredible effects such as technology, the binder trompe d'œil that allows drying faster, not only did techniques also took charge of recording in writing as a book what he was creating.
Jan Van Eyck with his brothers is part of a renowned family of painters in Liege, thanks to the precision of his works managed to be one of the few artists with Masaccio in representing how photography would be reality.
Already with more than 30 years of artistic trajectory he paints on polyptych boards, and diptychs, for his excellent work he is hired for discount in the court of King Philip the Good obtaining a fixed annual salary, he also managed under his influence to travel as diplomatic personnel by Italy, Spain and Portugal, and thus he found influences of other painters in different European countries.
At the same time he painted his most emblematic works as a virgin of Chancellor Rolón and the portrait of the Arbolfini couple, two of his most important works due to an extraordinary use of techniques and concept, thanks to this he is considered the pioneer in the western portrait, his unique way of portraying the models is studied as an obligatory reference by painting schools all over the world.
He dedicated himself to painting with precision textures, lighting in order to find a new sense of perspective and illusion, being more than a painter a scientist, without losing the naturalism that was very rare in his time. He worked in The Hague for John of Bavaria then in the court of King Philip and later moved to Bruges where he painted one of his most emblematic works the great altarpiece of the Adoration of the Mystical Lamb, made for the cathedral of Ghent.
Many of his works disappeared at least 20 surviving more than all portraits and paintings dedicated to religiosity, where he stood out thanks to the techniques that I believe, the artist was able to perfectly reproduce in this work the most diverse textures, from the silky hair of the dog placed in the first term to the polished brass of the lamp and the convex surface of the mirror in the background, where the painter gives a second version of the scene while creating effects of depth.
It is possible that some of the works that have disappeared are in private collections and are never shown in public, although the works that remain are still an exquisite reference of his great dedication to generating postulates, techniques that do exist and continue to be studied, despite the fact that Flemish painting is considered a satire towards the church this Artist did not devote himself to discrediting although if you analyze his work better you can find better hidden messages.
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