- (Eusk), Dutch painter; see Van Eyck Jan. (Source: "Popular Art Encyclopedia." Under the editorship of Polevoy V.M.; M.: Soviet Encyclopedia Publishing House, 1986.) ... Art Encyclopedia
Wikipedia has articles on other people with this last name, see Eyck. Jacob van Eyck Full name Niderl. Jacob van Eyck Date of birth 1590 (1590) ... Wikipedia
Eyck (Eyck) Jan van (c. 1390 ≈ 1441), Netherlandish painter; see Van Eyck I... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Dominic Lampson. Portrait of Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck (senior) (Dutch. Jan van Eyck, c. 1385 or 1390 1441) Flemish painter of the early Renaissance, portrait master, author of more than 100 compositions on religious subjects, one of the first artists, ... ... Wikipedia
Eyck, Jan Wang- (Eyck, Jan van) Ok. 1390, Maaseik, near Maastricht 1441, Bruges. Dutch painter. The founder of the early Renaissance style in the painting of the Northern Renaissance. He studied, perhaps, with his older brother Hubert van Eyck. Court painter ... ... European Art: Painting. Sculpture. Graphics: Encyclopedia
Eyck (German Eick, Dutch Eijk, Eyck)) is a surname. Known bearers: Artists Eyck, Hubert van (1370-1426) Flemish painter, elder brother of Jan van Eyck. Eyck, Jan van (1385 or 1390 1441) Flemish painter of the early ... ... Wikipedia
Yang, see Eik Yang van. (Source: "Art. Modern Illustrated Encyclopedia." Edited by Prof. A.P. Gorkin; M.: Rosmen; 2007.) ... Art Encyclopedia
See Van Eyck... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (eyck) Jan van (c. 1390, Maaseik, near Maastricht - 1441, Bruges), Dutch artist, one of the founders of the art of the Northern Renaissance. He studied, perhaps, with his older brother Hubert. The division of the artistic heritage of the brothers is ... ... Art Encyclopedia
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- Jan van Eyck, . We offer painting lovers a selection of images of the eight best paintings by famous artists who have made the glory of world painting. Executed at a high printing level, they will become ...
- Jan van Eyck. Album, . The album contains 22 paintings by Jan van Eyck. The great Dutch artist Jan van Eyck stood at the origins of national painting. His religious creations and portraits…
Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini. Jan van Eyck
1435. State Museum, Berlin.
Wood, oil. 29 X 20 cm.
Here, we will analyze the versions of what is happening. You - with pleasure, I - overcoming a slight personal dislike.
Let's take a look at what we actually see. In front of us in a small room with a low ceiling is a couple - a man and a woman, they are a little strange for us, but clearly smartly dressed; and the faces of both are far from ideal. The man has a disproportionately large head, which is further emphasized by the ridiculous huge hat, and the woman has the same disproportionate belly, which is also emphasized by special folds and tucks in the dress.
"PREGNANT" in the paintings of van Eyck himself and his contemporaries:
Saint Catherine (Virgin) on the "Dresden Triptych" by Jan van Eyck
Eve from the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck, 1432 (fruit in hand, before the fall)
Saint Margaret and Mary Magdalene (right) on a fragment of the Portinari altarpiece by Hugo van der Goes, 1474
"Love magic" (?) 1470
"Wheel of Fortune", miniature by Henry de Vulkope, second half. 15th century
Hans Memling "Vanity of Vanities"
Hans Memling "Bathsheba" 1470
Hugo van Dur Hus "The Fall" 1467
It seems that the "pot-belliedness" of the ladies was then in great fashion! So the pregnant or "pregnant" wife of Arnolfini in the picture is up to you to decide.
They stand almost in line in ceremonial postures; the man with this somehow strangely holds the woman's hand in his hand - palm up. The room is austerely decorated, perfect cleanliness, even somehow empty, but for some reason, a pair of abandoned shoes is lying around in the foreground and background. The rest of the small details in this "Spartan" room look strange and even slightly out of place, so the question involuntarily arises: why are they here? It is unlikely that all these carved wooden figures, a strange mirror behind on the wall, fruits on the windowsill are written by chance.
Glory - ordinary house slippers, women's (in the depth of the picture). Exactly the same as now. Right - protective slippers for the street
We delve into the analysis of what we see. The men in lilac velvet trimmed with fur are clearly not a simple city dweller, the woman does not see any jewelry, except for the chain and rings on her hand, but the style of the dress is complex and intricate, its trim is also fur (most likely, these are the white “bellies” of squirrels, it was very fashionable at the time. The slippers in the foreground are those safety shoes, kind of like galoshes, for walking down the street to save expensive boots and shoes. This suggests that the people who wore them moved outside the house on their own, and not on a horse or in a carriage, i.e. they did not belong to the aristocracy. Thus, before us are representatives of the middle class, and very non-poor. Most likely, these are rich merchants. And so it is.
A few more words about housing. Don't let the small size of the room fool you, especially when compared to the large areas of peasant taverns and dwellings that we will see in the paintings of the Netherlanders in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Netherlands still has a colossal shortage of space, especially in cities; after all, the inhabitants of the "low lands" (as the word "Netherlands" is translated) literally won every square centimeter of their country from the sea. "Drainage" works are still being carried out and will always be carried out, otherwise Holland and Belgium will simply be flooded by the sea. And if in the countryside houses are not so crowded, then in overpopulated cities, the cramped quarters of which are literally locked between canals, a unit of housing area has always cost a huge amount of money! Houses were usually built close to each other, in addition, the builders had one secret - narrow facades are slightly tilted forward in order to increase the area of \u200b\u200bthe upper floors at least a couple of centimeters (there are usually no more than three of them). So the pictured couple has the most common apartment for the middle class; we most likely found them in the bedroom - people have already thrown off their shoes, just undress - and here we are with van Eyck!
Perhaps the first floor of the building was occupied by a shop or office, but we see them on the second or third floor.
Cherry outside the window - perhaps a symbol of fertility.
Cherries are ripening outside the window, and the people in the picture are in warm clothes. This should not be surprising - such a strange summer in Flanders. The climate in Belgium is unimportant and always has been!
The surname of the man today seems to be established - he was from the Arnolfini family, wealthy Italian merchants who traded fabrics, leathers and furs in Europe in the 15th century. Yes Yes! He is Italian, despite the whitish physiognomy. But there are questions about the name. For a long time it was believed that this was Giovanni di Arrigio Arnolfini, a fabric merchant from Lucca, and next to him was his second wife Giovanna Cenami (also from a family of wealthy fabric merchants from the same Lucca), but documents have recently been found (there is a gift for their wedding) , which say that the wedding between them took place in 1447, 6 years after the death of van Eyck. So, if this is Giovanni di Argio, then this is his first wife, who died soon after. Or is it another Arnolfini, his cousin - Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini. Recently, it has been generally accepted that this is still Nicolao, so that a separate portrait, painted after the “Four…”, depicts Nicolao.
Who is he, this Arnolfini? He was born around 1400, i.e. was a little younger than van Eyck. Most likely, they were friends - after all, the artist served at the court of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, and Arnolfini was a merchant and supplied fabrics and luxury goods to the court. A merchant was born in Lucca, Italy, his family ran a successful trade both in their native Tuscany and abroad. Even in his youth, Giovanni came to Bruges and lived there until the end of his life. The subject of trade was silk, other expensive fabrics, as well as tapestries. It is known that Arnolfini placed six precious tapestries dedicated to the Mother of God at the duke's court.
This tapestry once belonged to Philip the Good. (took). It may have been sold by Arnolfini. Open in a new tab and zoom in - this is a masterpiece!
The painting is more than 600 years old, it had to “wander” around Europe a lot - van Eyck painted it for an Italian merchant who lived in Bruges, and now it hangs in London, at the National Gallery. For a long time she was in Spain, at the end of the 18th century she was taken to Belgium, and at the beginning of the 19th century, during the war with Napoleon, an English officer saw her in Brussels, bought her and brought her home. Naturally, over the years of "ordeals" documents related to the history of the creation of the picture were lost, and, moreover, its meaning and hidden symbolism became incomprehensible.
These people only owned the painting for the first hundred years!
(Arnolfini himself, nobleman Diego de Guevara, Margarita of Austria, Maria of Hungary, Spanish king Philip II, his son Don Carlos.
Like all the works of van Eyck, the picture is filled with many details and strange objects, the presence of which in the “Portrait of the Arnolfinia”, like in no other work, looks deliberate and not accidental. Perhaps van Eyck simply painted the picture in this way, trying to make the interior of the room, the figures and faces of those present, as well as many household details, look as natural as possible, and added all these items to enliven the picture, but he did not succeed. Even with a cursory glance at the picture, the feeling of magic, invisible magic does not leave you.
Perhaps that is why one of the old interpretations of the painting arose: for a long time it was believed that a pregnant woman is depicted here, who came to palmist to find out their future fate and the fate of the unborn child.
Chandelier - as in the photo! Here you can also see the famous inscription: "Vasya van Eyck was here." See Saint Margaret with the dragon?
This version is now resolutely rejected: a "palmist" in precious velvet and furs - isn't it too defiant luxury for a simple soothsayer? Yes, and the pregnancy of the lady in the picture cannot be confirmed - she will not be able to pass a pregnancy test due to her death about 550 years ago.
What other versions. There is a version sublime.
Its supporters believe that van Eyck depicted an allegory of marriage, focusing on its duality: the emphasized symmetry of the image, the couple in the portrait, separated from each other at a “demonstrative” distance, two pairs of shoes on the floor, a pair of rosaries hanging on the wall. The bed is a symbol of marriage, the dog is a symbol of family fidelity, etc. This version could be considered if the person in the picture didn’t look so similar ... yes, yes, he looks like Putin, leave me alone! ... and also for a man in a separate portrait. That is, this character is not fictional, but most likely real. True, the features of the lady's face seem to me somewhat conventional, generalized. We see similar female faces in other paintings by van Eyck, but we will return to this later.
Belgian Griffon
Art critic Erwin Panofsky once proposed a very slender, but now disputed version - supposedly this painting - document, Marriage certificate. Therefore, we see an ornate inscription on the wall: “Jan van Eyck was here,” and the artist also painted himself in the reflection of a convex mirror with another witness. This idea is also suggested by the extreme ceremony of the poses, and the hand of the groom raised in an oath.
On the underpainting in infrared rays, it can be seen that the oath-raised hand was initially even more turned towards the viewer
I do not think, however, that this option should be considered as the only correct one. If this was evidence, then it can hardly be regarded as a serious document, otherwise this practice would have taken root, and we would have seen a lot of work of followers made in this vein.
However, Panofsky's idea caught on, and many researchers developed it. Therefore, they say, two people are reflected in the mirror at the door, because two witnesses were needed for a marriage certificate. Some believe that the marriage was unequal, " left hand marriage”, so Arnolfini holds the palm of his lower-class bride in his left hand. The picture was evidence of family ties and the merchant's special trust in his wife, which allowed her to manage her husband's affairs in his absence. This, by the way, is another option - perhaps this is not a wedding, and not a marriage certificate, but something like a power of attorney for management.
Another version, quite mundane. To be honest, I stick with it too. Perhaps this is just a ceremonial portrait of spouses who have recently married. The bed is a symbol of the family bed and the place of childbearing, Saint Margaret, opening the belly of the dragon (we see her carved on the head of the bed) is the patroness of childbirth, the panicle is a symbol of the purity of marriage and a tidy life, the only candle burning on the chandelier is evidence of the presence of God. Oranges on the windowsill, haunting researchers, are hardly an indicator of the family's wealth (in Flanders at that time it was a very expensive exotic fruit), otherwise why would van Eyck depict them on the windowsill in his famous painting “Madonna of Lucca” ?! Most likely, the fruits here are an allegory of fertility, or an allusion to the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, the Adam's apple - the cause of original sin. This is a kind of edification and a reminder to those entering into marriage about the infinitely merciful sacrifice of Christ. The scenes of passion, death and resurrection of Christ, depicted on the frame of the mirror, echo this.
It is unlikely that Madonna Lucca boasts of her wealth!
This version also includes a dog. By the way, it is a well-defined breed - this is the progenitor of the Brussels (or Belgian) Griffon, only for the time being with a sharp nose. Dogs were often depicted at the feet of married women to emphasize their purity and devotion to their spouse. We see a dog on the hem of Isabella of Portugal in a picture depicting her wedding to Philip the Good, and dogs also lie at the feet of Mary of Burgundy in a sculptural group on the gravestone of the duchess. Interestingly, the dog in the 17th century was already interpreted as something opposite - as a symbol of lust. We can often see it in the genre scenes of the artists of the "Golden Age" of Dutch painting, when pardon, brothels or dates with courtesans were depicted.
Dog on the hem of the bride in the image of the wedding of the patron of the artist Philip the Good (painting probably by van Eyck)
A dog at the feet of the deceased on the gravestone of Mary of Burgundy (granddaughter of Duke Philip)
The dog at the bride's feet in the wedding scene on Rogier van der Weyden's triptych "The Seven Sacraments"
AFTER 150 YEARS, THE DOG SYMBOLIZED SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!:
Jos Cornelis Drochslot, 17th century. "Scene in the brothel"
fantastic, since there is no evidence of it - supposedly this is a self-portrait of van Eyck himself with his wife Margaret. If there are no confirmed self-portraits of van Eyck, then the portrait of his wife has survived to this day. It seems to me that only the Flemish nondescriptness unites her with the heroine of the paired portrait. Although, they look like each other, of course, what is already there.
Enough cute version, and not unfounded, I think - the picture is a kind of wish for the addition of offspring, the hope for a successful marriage. Hence the emphasized style of the woman's dress, oranges and cherries are fruits, St. Margaret is the patroness of "fertility", in the bride's slippers still removed: she hints at the fact that a woman is standing barefoot on the ground - this is such an ancient symbol of fertility, attachment to the earth. It is no coincidence that the compositional solution of the picture is so close to the popular and numerous at that time "Annunciation", when the archangel informs Mary about the imminent pregnancy.
Comparison with a portrait of Margaret van Eyck (1439)
Another version is very funny, but unlikely - supposedly the Arnolfini family was too modern, free-spirited, shocking the Catholic community. The spouses cheated on each other right and left and looked through their fingers at these fun, and the painting was ordered as a mockery of the bonds of marriage. On the frame of the picture there is an inscription - Ovid's verses: “Do not spare promises: they are not worth at all. Indeed, every poor man is rich in this wealth. The ceremonial posture of the spouse - the raised right hand, as if he is making some kind of vow, while maintaining an incredible seriousness of his face - is a mockery of this vow. The wife's pregnancy in the picture also harbors a hidden mockery, the only candle on the chandelier from the husband's side is an obscene and obvious symbol, especially in the presence of a bed. Slippers in the foreground, in the most prominent place, symbolize "campaigns to the left." The grotesque and mockery are emphasized by a decorative monster carved from wood, “sitting” directly above the joined palms of the spouses. And the fruits on the windowsill, hinting at original sin, in this context take on a completely different meaning.
At the same time, it is worth adding that Ovid entered the pier only in the 16-17th century, and the inscription itself on the frame was applied at the same time.
There is another version, a little sinister and mystical.
Allegedly, the picture still depicts Giovanni di Argio, but this is not his wedding, but a portrait with his wife, who has already died. Perhaps the woman died during childbirth, so we see her pregnant, and Saint Margaret is immediately appropriate. Therefore, the features of the woman's face are conditional and somewhat idealistic - the artist painted her from memory or from the description of a widower. Some interpretations of symbols can be considered as evidence of this version. So, the pictures on the mirror from the side of the husband depict the condemnation and passion of Christ, while the side of the wife depicts scenes after the death of Christ. A candle burning on the side of the man shows that he is alive, and empty places for candles on the side of the lady indicate that she has already left the world of the living.
Slippers symbolize that after the death of his wife Arnolfini vows "not to go out", to remain faithful to her.
These are the nine versions I have listed for you (even ten). Choose any, but know that there could well have been some other version that we and you have no idea about!
And with that I end my series of stories about Jan van Eyck. To be honest, I'm already pretty fed up with it, and I think you are too. It's high time to talk about Rogier van der Weyden!
I take information from books, the Internet, lectures
Jan van Eyck (Dutch. Jan van Eyck, c. 1385 or 1390, Maaseik-1441 Bruges) - Flemish painter of the early Renaissance, master of portraiture, author of more than a hundred compositions on religious subjects. The younger brother of the artist and his teacher Hubert van Eyck (1370-1426).
Jan van Eyck's exact date of birth is unknown. Born in the Northern Netherlands in Maaseik. He studied with his elder brother Hubert, with whom he worked until 1426. He began his activity in The Hague at the court of the Dutch counts, was first mentioned between 1422 and 1426 as "Master Jan" in the rank of chamber junker with Count Johann III. It is also known that he had only 2 brothers: the elder Hubert, and the younger Lambert and sister Margaret. From 1425 he was an artist and courtier of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip III the Good, who highly valued him as an artist and generously paid for his work. In 1427-1428. as part of the ducal embassy, Jan van Eyck went to Spain, then to Portugal. In 1427 he visited Tournai, where he was received with honor by the local guild of artists. Probably met with Robert Campin, or saw his work. He worked in Lille and Ghent, in 1431 he bought a house in Bruges and lived there until his death.
Van Eyck is considered the inventor of oil paints, although in fact he only improved them. But it was after him that oil gained general recognition, oil technology became traditional for the Netherlands; in the 15th century came to Germany and France, from there - to Italy
Van Eyck's largest and most famous work is the Ghent Altarpiece, probably begun by his brother Hubert. Jan van Eyck commissioned the wealthy Ghent burgher Jodoc Veidt for his family chapel in 1422-1432. This grandiose multi-tiered polyptych of 24 paintings depicting 258 human figures is located in the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent.
Among the masterpieces of Jan van Eyck are the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, as well as a portrait of a merchant, a representative of the Medici banking house, Giovanni Arnolfini with his wife - the so-called Portrait of the Arnolfini couple.
Jan van Eyck died in Bruges in July 1441 (date of burial - July 9, 1441). In the epitaph of van Eyck it is written: “Here lies John, glorious with extraordinary virtues, in whom love for painting was amazing; he painted life-breathing images of people, and the earth with flowering herbs, and glorified all living things with his art ... "
He had several students, including the subsequently famous painter Petrus Christus.
“According to universal recognition, the most daring discoveries that marked a turning point in the artistic development (of humanity) belong to the painter Jan van Eyck (1385/90 - 1441). His greatest creation is a multi-leaf altar (polyptych) for the cathedral in Ghent. - E. Gombrich "History of Art".
Since up to the 15th century it was not customary to sign your paintings.
In honor of Van Eyck, a crater on Mercury and an asteroid (9561) van Eyck, which was discovered on August 19, 1987, are named.
Featured on a 1944 Belgian postage stamp.
This is part of a Wikipedia article used under the CC-BY-SA license. Full text of the article here →
Hubert and Jan van Eycky - Netherlandish painters of the first half of the 15th century, the founders of early Netherlandish painting. Their work is attributed to the early Renaissance, although in many ways it still remains medieval. Contemporaries considered the work of Jan van Eyck "new art". But the fact of the existence of Jan van Eyck's brother Hubert has long been questioned. There are suggestions that it was not the brother of the famous artist at all. There is even a version that such a person did not exist. Nevertheless, a monument to the two van Eyck brothers was erected in the city of Maaseik.
Monument to the van Eyck brothers in Maaseik
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Hubert van Eyck (engraving by Edme de Boulonois) |
Hubert was the older brother of Jan, as well as Margaret and Lambert (also artists). Currently, not a single work has been preserved, about which it can be said with certainty that this is the work of Hubert van Eyck.
It is assumed that the brothers were born in the city of Maaseik (i.e. Eyck on the Meuse River) in the Northern Netherlands (now the Belgian province of Limburg) in a family of minor nobles. Hubert's year of birth is around 1370, Jan was born between 1385 and 1390. Nothing is known about the early years of the brothers, but the books of the 1560s mention that Jan was taught painting by his elder brother Hubert. What kind of education they received is also not clear, but judging by the reviews of contemporaries, Jan van Eyck was literary educated, read the classics, studied geometry. And in the paintings of the artist there are inscriptions in French, Latin, Greek, Flemish (native to van Eyck) and Hebrew. Knowledge of languages, symbolism and images of paintings show a person with an inquisitive, sharp mind and a good education.
Based on the fact that the name Hubert was not very common, researchers suggest that it was Hubert van Eyck who is referred to as "Magister Hubertus, pictor" (Master Hubert, artist), who received payment in 1409 for completing an order for the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tongeren. He is probably also Master Hubert, whose painting Jan de Wiesch van der Capella bequeathed to his daughter, a nun in a Benedictine monastery near Grevelingen. However, his name does not appear in guild records and the will does not include any children. It is believed that around 1420 Hubert settled in Ghent. Around this time, the artist began work on his only surviving work - the altarpiece for the cathedral in Ghent, now known as the "Ghent Altarpiece". However, this work was completed by Jan van Eyck only in 1432, six years after Hubert's death. So it's hard to say to what extent this is the work of an older brother. The inscription on the frame, discovered at the beginning of the 19th century in Latin, on the basis of which art historians made important conclusions about the authors of the altar, read: "Hubert van Eyck, the greatest artist that ever lived, began this work, which Jan, his brother, the second only in skill, had the good fortune to continue "It is not known how reliable this record is .. Some researchers consider it as an over-generous fraternal tribute.
Closed Ghent Altarpiece
Ghent altar in open view
Another work Hubert is said to have started is The Three Marys at the Grave. But it, too, was finished by another artist.
"Three Marys at the Grave"
In 1425, the city of Ghent commissioned two works from the artist, which, most likely, were not completed. Hubert van Eyck died on September 18, 1426 and was buried in the Cathedral of Saint Bavo next to his sister Margaret.
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| Jan van Eyck (engraving by Dominic Lampson) |
Younger brother Yang was more fortunate. Many of his works and information about his life have come down to us.
There are documents that in 1420 he presented the head of the Madonna to the Guild of Antwerp, and in 1422 he decorated an Easter candle for the cathedral in Cambrai.
In 1422 he became court painter to John of Bavaria, Count of Holland, Zeeland and Gennegau. Until 1424, Jan van Eyck participated in the design of the count's palace in The Hague.
After the death of John of Bavaria, the master, already enjoying great fame, left Holland and settled in Flanders. In the spring of 1425, in Bruges, he was accepted into the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, "with all honors, privileges, freedoms, rights and benefits." In the same year the artist moved to Lille.
At court, Jan van Eyck was listed as both chamberlain and court painter. Undoubtedly, he moved in the thick of court life. Relations with the duke, a great connoisseur of the arts, developed the kindest. This can be judged by gifts and cash payments. An angry letter from Philippe from 1435 to the city treasurer of Lille, who tried to reduce the amount that he had to pay van Eyck, has been preserved: "This upsets Us very much, since We cannot name any other artist equal to Us in tastes, and so sophisticated in matters of painting and science!
Several times the artist performed secret diplomatic missions for Philip. So in 1427 van Eyck went on a secret mission to Tours, located ten miles from Lille.
The following year, on December 19, 1428, van Eyck, as a diplomat, together with the ambassadors of Philip, left for Lisbon with the task of preparing the ground for the marriage between the widower-duke Philip and the Portuguese princess Isabella. Fulfilling the mission entrusted to him, in Portugal, the artist painted two portraits of the bride (not preserved) and sent to his master along with a draft marriage contract. So often then it was done "for acquaintance."
The mission was successfully completed, and on December 25 of the following year, van Eyck returned to Flanders along with the wedding cortege and the Portuguese infanta.
Along with court activities, "master Yang" carried out orders from the church and city merchants. The largest number of works that have come down to us were written during the service of the Duke of Burgundy.
One of the earliest works that have come down to us is Madonna in the Church.
Jan van Eyck "Madonna in the Church" (before 1426)
Jan van Eyck has long been considered the inventor of oil paints. This legend was told by Giorgio Vasari a hundred years after the death of the famous Netherlander and was picked up by other writers and art critics. In fact, paints based on vegetable oils were known long before the 15th century. Perhaps Jan van Eyck somewhat improved their composition, not without reason he was considered not only an outstanding painter, but also an alchemist. And he masterfully mastered the technique of writing with oil paints. Painters of all countries, according to Vasari, "were forced to glorify him and give him immortal praises, but at the same time they envied him in every possible way ...".
The period of the highest creative maturity of Jan van Eyck fell on the 1430s. By this time, the artist moved from Lille to Bruges, bought a house "with a stone facade", and in 1433 got married. In 1434, Duke Philip III became the godfather of the first child of the painter and, in connection with the birth of his son, presented him with six silver bowls as a gift.
Jan van Eyck "Portrait of his wife Margaret"
In 1432, Jan van Eyck finished work on the above-mentioned altar for the Cathedral in Ghent, and then the work follows literally one after another.
Jan van Eyck was one of the first to create portraits, achieving the object accuracy of the appearance of the model.
Jan van Eyck "Portrait of a Young Man (Timothy)" (1432)
Jan van Eyck "Portrait of a man in a red turban" (1433)
Jan van Eyck "Portrait of Cardinal Niccolo Albergati" (1431)
Jan van Eyck "Portrait of a man with a carnation" (1435)
Jan van Eyck's masterpieces include the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (circa 1436), as well as a portrait of a merchant, a representative of the Medici banking house, Giovanni Arnolfini with his wife; the so-called "Portrait of the Arnolfini couple" (1434).
Jan van Eyck "Madonna of Chancellor Rolin"
Jan van Eyck "Portrait of the Arnolfini"
The artist died on July 9, 1441 in Bruges, the city that became his native, and was buried in the fence of the church of St. Donatian, not far from his home. The following year, his brother Lambert asked the duke to have the artist's ashes reburied inside the church. Philip not only gave such permission, but also assigned the artist's widow a quite decent life allowance.
The epitaph on Jan van Eyck's grave reads:
"Here rests John glorious with extraordinary virtues,
In which the love of painting was amazing.
He also painted life-breathing images of people,
And the land with flowering herbs,
And he glorified all living things with his art.
The painting "Saint Jerome" was completed, most likely, by the artist's friends after his death, although the main part was made by Jan van Eyck himself. Probably, this is written in a letter lying on the table.
Jan van Eyck "Saint Jerome" (1442)
Monument to the van Eyck brothers in front of the Cathedral of St. Bavona, Ghent
J. Huizinga "Autumn of the Middle Ages"
In almost every significant work of art there is a mystery, a double bottom or a secret story that you want to uncover.
Music on the buttocks
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1500-1510.
Fragment of a triptych
Disputes about the meanings and hidden meanings of the most famous work of the Dutch artist have not subsided since its appearance. On the right wing of the triptych called "Musical Hell" sinners are depicted who are tortured in the underworld with the help of musical instruments. One of them has notes imprinted on his buttocks. Oklahoma Christian University student Amelia Hamrick, who studied the painting, transposed the notation of the 16th century into a modern way and recorded "a song from the ass from hell, which is 500 years old."
Nude Mona Lisa
The famous "Gioconda" exists in two versions: the nude version is called "Monna Vanna", it was painted by the little-known artist Salai, who was a student and sitter of the great Leonardo da Vinci. Many art critics are sure that it was he who was the model for Leonardo's paintings "John the Baptist" and "Bacchus". There are also versions that dressed in a woman's dress, Salai served as the image of Mona Lisa herself.
Old Fisherman
In 1902, the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvari painted the painting "Old Fisherman". It would seem that there is nothing unusual in the picture, but Tivadar laid a subtext in it, which was never disclosed during the life of the artist.
Few people thought of putting a mirror in the middle of the picture. In each person there can be both God (the right shoulder of the Old Man is duplicated) and the Devil (the left shoulder of the old man is duplicated).
Was there a whale?
Hendrik van Antonissen "Scene on the Shore".
It seemed like an ordinary landscape. Boats, people on the shore and the desert sea. And only an X-ray study showed that people gathered on the shore for a reason - in the original, they examined the carcass of a whale washed ashore.
However, the artist decided that no one would want to look at a dead whale and repainted the painting.
Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"
Edouard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass, 1863.
Claude Monet, Breakfast on the Grass, 1865.
Artists Edouard Manet and Claude Monet are sometimes confused - after all, they were both French, lived at the same time and worked in the style of impressionism. Even the name of one of Manet's most famous paintings, "Breakfast on the Grass", Monet borrowed and wrote his "Breakfast on the Grass".
Twins at the Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498.
When Leonardo da Vinci wrote The Last Supper, he attached particular importance to two figures: Christ and Judas. He was looking for sitters for them for a very long time. Finally, he managed to find a model for the image of Christ among the young singers. Leonardo failed to find a sitter for Judas for three years. But one day he came across a drunkard lying in the gutter on the street. He was a young man who had been aged by heavy drinking. Leonardo invited him to a tavern, where he immediately began to write Judas from him. When the drunkard came to his senses, he told the artist that he had already posed for him once. It was a few years ago, when he sang in the church choir, Leonardo wrote Christ from him.
"Night Watch" or "Day Watch"?
Rembrandt, The Night Watch, 1642.
One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, “The Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenbürg,” hung in different halls for about two hundred years and was discovered by art historians only in the 19th century. Since the figures seemed to stand out against a dark background, it was called the Night Watch, and under this name it entered the treasury of world art.
And only during the restoration, carried out in 1947, it turned out that in the hall the picture had managed to become covered with a layer of soot, which distorted its color. After clearing the original painting, it was finally revealed that the scene presented by Rembrandt actually takes place during the day. The position of the shadow from the left hand of Captain Kok shows that the duration of the action is no more than 14 hours.
capsized boat
Henri Matisse, "The Boat", 1937.
In the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961, Henri Matisse's painting "The Boat" was exhibited. Only after 47 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down. The canvas depicts 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background. The artist painted two sails for a reason, the second sail is a reflection of the first one on the surface of the water.
In order not to be mistaken in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be at the top of the painting, and the peak of the sail of the painting should be directed to the upper right corner.
Deception in a self-portrait
Vincent van Gogh, Self Portrait with a Pipe, 1889.
There are legends that Van Gogh allegedly cut off his own ear. Now the most reliable version is that van Gogh's ear was damaged in a small scuffle with the participation of another artist, Paul Gauguin.
The self-portrait is interesting because it reflects reality in a distorted form: the artist is depicted with a bandaged right ear, because he used a mirror when working. In fact, the left ear was damaged.
alien bears
Ivan Shishkin, "Morning in the Pine Forest", 1889.
The famous painting belongs not only to the brush of Shishkin. Many artists who were friends with each other often resorted to "the help of a friend", and Ivan Ivanovich, who had been painting landscapes all his life, was afraid that touching bears would not turn out the way he needed. Therefore, Shishkin turned to a familiar animal painter Konstantin Savitsky.
Savitsky painted perhaps the best bears in the history of Russian painting, and Tretyakov ordered his name to be washed off the canvas, since everything in the picture “beginning from the idea and ending with the execution, everything speaks of the manner of painting, of the creative method peculiar to Shishkin.”
Innocent story "Gothic"
Grant Wood, "American Gothic", 1930.
Grant Wood's work is considered one of the strangest and most depressing in the history of American painting. The picture with a gloomy father and daughter is overflowing with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrogradeness of the people depicted.
In fact, the artist did not intend to depict any horrors: during a trip to Iowa, he noticed a small house in the Gothic style and decided to depict those people who, in his opinion, would be ideally suited as inhabitants. Grant's sister and his dentist are immortalized in the form of characters that the people of Iowa were so offended by.
Revenge of Salvador Dali
The painting "Figure at the Window" was painted in 1925, when Dali was 21 years old. Then Gala had not yet entered the life of the artist, and his sister Ana Maria was his muse. The relationship between brother and sister deteriorated when he wrote on one of the paintings "sometimes I spit on a portrait of my own mother, and it gives me pleasure." Ana Maria could not forgive such shocking.
In her 1949 book Salvador Dali Through the Eyes of a Sister, she writes about her brother without any praise. The book infuriated El Salvador. For another ten years after that, he angrily remembered her at every opportunity. And so, in 1954, the picture "A young virgin indulging in Sodomy sin with the help of the horns of her own chastity" appears. The pose of the woman, her curls, the landscape outside the window and the color scheme of the painting clearly echo the Figure at the Window. There is a version that this is how Dali took revenge on his sister for her book.
Two-faced Danae
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Danae, 1636-1647.
Many secrets of one of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt were revealed only in the 60s of the twentieth century, when the canvas was illuminated with X-rays. For example, the shooting showed that in the early version, the face of the princess, who entered into a love affair with Zeus, looked like the face of Saskia, the wife of the painter, who died in 1642. In the final version of the painting, it began to resemble the face of Gertier Dirks, Rembrandt's mistress, with whom the artist lived after the death of his wife.
Van Gogh's yellow bedroom
Vincent van Gogh, "Bedroom in Arles", 1888 - 1889.
In May 1888, Van Gogh acquired a small workshop in Arles, in the south of France, where he fled from the Parisian artists and critics who did not understand him. In one of the four rooms, Vincent sets up a bedroom. In October, everything is ready, and he decides to paint Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles. For the artist, the color, the comfort of the room was very important: everything had to suggest thoughts of relaxation. At the same time, the picture is sustained in disturbing yellow tones.
Researchers of Van Gogh's creativity explain this by the fact that the artist took foxglove, a remedy for epilepsy, which causes serious changes in the patient's perception of color: the entire surrounding reality is painted in green-yellow tones.
Toothless perfection
Leonardo da Vinci, "Portrait of Mrs. Lisa del Giocondo", 1503 - 1519.
The generally accepted opinion is that Mona Lisa is perfection and her smile is beautiful in its mysteriousness. However, the American art critic (and part-time dentist) Joseph Borkowski believes that, judging by the expression on her face, the heroine has lost a lot of teeth. While examining enlarged photographs of the masterpiece, Borkowski also found scars around her mouth. “She smiles so much precisely because of what happened to her,” the expert believes. “Her facial expression is typical of people who have lost their front teeth.”
Major on face control
Pavel Fedotov, Major's Matchmaking, 1848.
The public, who first saw the painting "Major's Matchmaking", laughed heartily: the artist Fedotov filled it with ironic details that were understandable to viewers of that time. For example, the major is clearly not familiar with the rules of noble etiquette: he appeared without the proper bouquets for the bride and her mother. And the bride herself was discharged by her merchant parents into an evening ball gown, although it was daytime (all the lamps in the room were extinguished). The girl obviously tried on a low-cut dress for the first time, is embarrassed and tries to run away to her room.
Why Freedom is naked
Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix, Liberty at the Barricades, 1830.
According to the art historian Etienne Julie, Delacroix painted the face of a woman from the famous Parisian revolutionary - the laundress Anna-Charlotte, who went to the barricades after the death of her brother at the hands of royal soldiers and killed nine guardsmen. The artist depicted her bare-chested. According to his plan, this is a symbol of fearlessness and selflessness, as well as the triumph of democracy: naked breasts show that Svoboda, like a commoner, does not wear a corset.
non-square square
Kazimir Malevich, Black Suprematist Square, 1915.
In fact, the "Black Square" is not at all black and not at all square: none of the sides of the quadrangle is parallel to any of its other sides, and none of the sides of the square frame that frames the picture. And the dark color is the result of mixing various colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the negligence of the author, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form.
Specialists of the Tretyakov Gallery have discovered the author's inscription on a famous painting by Malevich. The inscription reads: "Battle of the Negroes in a dark cave." This phrase refers to the name of the playful painting by the French journalist, writer and artist Alphonse Allais “Battle of the Negroes in a Dark Cave in the Dead of Night”, which was an absolutely black rectangle.
Melodrama of the Austrian Mona Lisa
Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", 1907.
One of Klimt's most significant paintings depicts the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. All Vienna discussed the stormy romance between Adele and the famous artist. The wounded husband wanted to take revenge on his lovers, but chose a very unusual way: he decided to order a portrait of Adele from Klimt and force him to make hundreds of sketches until the artist starts to turn away from her.
Bloch-Bauer wanted the work to last several years, and the model could see how Klimt's feelings fade away. He made a generous offer to the artist, which he could not refuse, and everything turned out according to the scenario of the deceived husband: the work was completed in 4 years, the lovers had long cooled off towards each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never found out that her husband was aware of her relationship with Klimt.
The painting that brought Gauguin back to life
Paul Gauguin, "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?", 1897-1898.
Gauguin's most famous canvas has one feature: it is "read" not from left to right, but from right to left, like Kabbalistic texts that the artist was interested in. It is in this order that the allegory of the spiritual and physical life of a person unfolds: from the birth of the soul (a sleeping child in the lower right corner) to the inevitability of the hour of death (a bird with a lizard in its claws in the lower left corner).
The painting was painted by Gauguin in Tahiti, where the artist fled from civilization several times. But this time life on the island did not work out: total poverty led him to depression. Having finished the canvas, which was to become his spiritual testament, Gauguin took a box of arsenic and went to the mountains to die. However, he did not calculate the dose, and the suicide failed. The next morning, he staggered to his hut and fell asleep, and when he woke up, he felt a forgotten thirst for life. And in 1898, his affairs went uphill, and a brighter period began in his work.
112 proverbs in one picture
Pieter Brueghel the Elder, "Netherlands Proverbs", 1559
Pieter Brueghel the Elder depicted a land inhabited by literal images of the Dutch proverbs of those days. There are approximately 112 recognizable idioms in the painted picture. Some of them are still used today, such as "swim against the current", "bang your head against the wall", "armed to the teeth" and "big fish eats small ones".
Other proverbs reflect human stupidity.
Subjectivity of art
Paul Gauguin, Breton village under the snow, 1894
Gauguin's painting "Breton Village in the Snow" was sold after the death of the author for only seven francs and, moreover, under the name "Niagara Falls". The auctioneer accidentally hung the painting upside down after seeing a waterfall in it.
hidden picture
Pablo Picasso, The Blue Room, 1901
In 2008, infrared showed that another image was hidden under the "Blue Room" - a portrait of a man dressed in a suit with a butterfly and resting his head on his hand. “As soon as Picasso had a new idea, he took up the brush and embodied it. But he did not have the opportunity to buy a new canvas every time the muse visited him, ”art historian Patricia Favero explains the possible reason for this.
Inaccessible Moroccan women
Zinaida Serebryakova, Naked, 1928
One day, Zinaida Serebryakova received a tempting offer - to go on a creative journey to portray the naked figures of oriental maidens. But it turned out that it was simply impossible to find models in those places. An interpreter for Zinaida came to the rescue - he brought his sisters and his bride to her. No one before and after that was able to capture the closed oriental women naked.
Spontaneous insight
Valentin Serov, "Portrait of Nicholas II in a jacket", 1900
For a long time Serov could not paint a portrait of the king. When the artist completely gave up, he apologized to Nikolai. Nikolai was a little upset, sat down at the table, stretching out his hands in front of him ... And then it dawned on the artist - here he is! A simple military man in an officer's jacket with clear and sad eyes. This portrait is considered the best depiction of the last emperor.
Again deuce
© Fedor Reshetnikov
The famous painting "Again deuce" is just the second part of the artistic trilogy.
The first part is "Arrived for the holidays." Obviously a well-to-do family, winter holidays, a joyful excellent student.
The second part is "Again the deuce." A poor family from the outskirts of the working class, the height of the school year, a dull stunner who again grabbed a deuce. In the upper left corner you can see the picture "Arrived for the holidays."
The third part is "Re-examination". Rural house, summer, everyone is walking, one malicious ignoramus who failed the annual exam is forced to sit within four walls and cram. In the upper left corner you can see the picture "Again deuce".
How masterpieces are born
Joseph Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844
In 1842, Mrs. Simon traveled by train in England. Suddenly, a heavy downpour began. The elderly gentleman sitting across from her got up, opened the window, stuck his head out, and stared like that for about ten minutes. Unable to contain her curiosity, the woman also opened the window and looked ahead. A year later, she discovered the painting “Rain, Steam and Speed” at an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and was able to recognize in it the very episode on the train.
Anatomy lesson from Michelangelo
Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, 1511
A couple of American neuroanatomy experts believe that Michelangelo actually left some anatomical illustrations in one of his most famous works. They believe that a huge brain is depicted on the right side of the picture. Surprisingly, even complex components such as the cerebellum, optic nerves, and pituitary gland can be found. And the catchy green ribbon perfectly matches the location of the vertebral artery.
The Last Supper by Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh, Café Terrace at Night, 1888
Researcher Jared Baxter believes that Van Gogh's Café Terrace at Night contains a dedication to Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. In the center of the picture is a waiter with long hair and in a white tunic, reminiscent of the clothes of Christ, and around him exactly 12 cafe visitors. Baxter also draws attention to the cross, located directly behind the back of the waiter in white.
Dali's image of memory
Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931
It is no secret that the thoughts that visited Dali during the creation of his masterpieces were always in the form of very realistic images, which the artist then transferred to the canvas. So, according to the author himself, the painting "The Persistence of Memory" was painted as a result of associations that arose at the sight of processed cheese.
What is Munch shouting about
Edvard Munch, "The Scream", 1893.
Munch spoke about the idea of one of the most mysterious paintings in world painting: "I was walking along the path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red, I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - I looked at blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and the city - my friends went on, and I stood, trembling with excitement, feeling the endless cry piercing nature. But what kind of sunset could scare the artist so?
There is a version that the idea of "Scream" was born by Munch in 1883, when there were several strongest eruptions of the Krakatoa volcano - so powerful that they changed the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere by one degree. A copious amount of dust and ash spread across the globe, reaching even as far as Norway. For several evenings in a row, the sunsets looked as if the apocalypse was about to come - one of them became a source of inspiration for the artist.
Writer among the people
Alexander Ivanov, "The Appearance of Christ to the People", 1837-1857.
Dozens of sitters posed for Alexander Ivanov for his main picture. One of them is known no less than the artist himself. In the background, among travelers and Roman horsemen who have not yet heard the sermon of John the Baptist, one can notice a character in a brown tunic. His Ivanov wrote with Nikolai Gogol. The writer closely communicated with the artist in Italy, in particular on religious issues, and gave him advice in the process of painting. Gogol believed that Ivanov "had long since died for the whole world, except for his work."
Michelangelo's gout
Raphael Santi, The School of Athens, 1511.
Creating the famous fresco "The School of Athens", Raphael immortalized his friends and acquaintances in the images of ancient Greek philosophers. One of them was Michelangelo Buonarroti "in the role" of Heraclitus. For several centuries, the fresco kept the secrets of Michelangelo's personal life, and modern researchers have suggested that the artist's strangely angular knee indicates that he has a joint disease.
This is quite likely, given the peculiarities of the lifestyle and working conditions of Renaissance artists and Michelangelo's chronic workaholism.
Mirror of the Arnolfinis
Jan van Eyck, "Portrait of the Arnolfinis", 1434
In the mirror behind the Arnolfinis, you can see the reflection of two more people in the room. Most likely, these are witnesses present at the conclusion of the contract. One of them is van Eyck, as evidenced by the Latin inscription placed, contrary to tradition, above the mirror in the center of the composition: "Jan van Eyck was here." This is how the contracts were usually sealed.
How a flaw turned into a talent
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Self-portrait at the age of 63, 1669.
The researcher Margaret Livingston studied all Rembrandt's self-portraits and found that the artist suffered from strabismus: in the images his eyes look in different directions, which is not observed in the portraits of other people by the master. The disease led to the fact that the artist could better perceive reality in two dimensions than people with normal vision. This phenomenon is called "stereo blindness" - the inability to see the world in 3D. But since the painter has to work with a two-dimensional image, it was precisely this shortcoming of Rembrandt that could be one of the explanations for his phenomenal talent.
Sinless Venus
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1482-1486.
Before the advent of The Birth of Venus, the image of a naked female body in painting symbolized only the idea of original sin. Sandro Botticelli was the first European painter not to find anything sinful in him. Moreover, art historians are sure that the pagan goddess of love symbolizes the Christian image on the fresco: her appearance is an allegory of the rebirth of the soul that has undergone the rite of baptism.
Lute player or lute player?
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Lute Player, 1596.
For a long time, the painting was exhibited in the Hermitage under the title "Lute Player". Only at the beginning of the 20th century, art historians agreed that the canvas still depicts a young man (probably, Caravaggio was posed by his friend artist Mario Minniti): on the notes in front of the musician, a recording of the bass part of the madrigal by Jacob Arcadelt “You know that I love you” is visible . A woman could hardly make such a choice - it's just hard for the throat. In addition, the lute, like the violin at the very edge of the picture, was considered a male instrument in the era of Caravaggio.
