The painter as a hero or heretic? Jan Van Eyck

Jan Van Eyck was a Flemish painter during the Northern Renaissance. The exact date and place of his birth are uncertain, but it is assumed that he was born around the year 1390. * He used oil and canvas to create extremely accurate and realistic paintings unlike the prominent decorative and unreal Gothic style that preceded his time. But the haunting question remains: Was Van Eyck a Christian hero or a heretic?

He worked in two different courts during his life. He first worked for Juan de Baviera, Count of Hainaut-Holland (1422-24), and then for Felipe el Bueno, Duke of Burgundy (1425-41). “Employment at court secured him an unusual high social position for a painter.” ** Also unusual was his habit of signing, dating, and painting, proof that he could read and write.

The Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan Van Eyck and his brother Hubert, was one of the most remarkable paintings of the time. Unlike normal triptychs, the Ghent Altarpiece has four separate panels and is painted on both sides. It has been called the “super-altar” because it contains twenty pieces of various dimensions (1).

The centerpiece of this exhibit is a lamb standing in heaven with blood gushing from its chest, symbolic of the Atonement of Christ, the Lamb of God now alive from the dead. This is from the Apocalypse where Saint John saw “between the throne (with the four living beings) and the elders a standing Lamb, as if slain …” (Rev. 5: 6).

Jan Van Eyck used an oil medium for some of his paintings to create an “atmospheric perspective”: where, for example, the mountain range blends imperceptibly with the color of the sky. Although he did not introduce the use of an oil medium, he developed varnish by mixing oil into his paintings, rather than the egg medium common in medieval paintings. The oil gave his paintings a brilliance, translucency and intensity of color like a jewel.

Van Eyck respected nature as a mirror of divine truth. Its religious symbolism reveals a strong understanding of the spiritual reality expressed in everyday life. His painting “Arnolfini Marriage”, full of religious symbolism, shows the sacramental nature of the marriage covenant (2).

Here is the painter playing the role of wedding photographer hundreds of years before the advent of the camera. A related episode in Van Eyck’s life made him travel to the court of Princess Isabel of Portugal with a marriage proposal from his patron, Felipe el Bueno. Part of his task was to bring a portrait of the beautiful princess to Phillip, who had not yet met his future wife.

However, there are others who detect a more sinister side of Van Eyck, attributing his skill in oil to alchemy. There is evidence in the Ghent altarpiece to suggest that Van Eyck foreshadowed the Rosicrucianism that emerged at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England in the following century. The rose as a symbol of secrecy suggests the communication of esoteric knowledge under a veil of Christian imagery.

For example, Saint Barbara, patron saint of alchemy, appears in the Ghent Altarpiece. Also, the word AGLA is hidden in a tile on one of the floors. According to Philip Coppens, the word was a protective magic formula, a cabalistic acronym. In his essay “Van Eyck: The Painting Heretic?” Coppens concludes, “… if The Adoration of the Lamb” was really meant to be a magical talisman for a New Age, then he was indeed the man who sowed and started that era. “

Jan had influenced art history by developing intense realism, landscapes, and portraits in art, as well as introducing the use of oil paint. He died in Bruges, Belgium, in 1441. *

Gallery:

1) Ghent Altarpiece: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent_altarpiece

2) Arnolfini Marriage: http://www.gardenofpraise.com/art29.htm