Paul G. Konody

“ The picturesque, brilliant, varied life of such cities as Bruges and Ghent at the beginning of the fifteenth century cannot have failed to stimulate the artists' power of observation, to sharpen their perception of the differences of race, gesture, and costume; for the streets and squares of the rich commercial centres of Flanders were filled from morning to night with ever-moving crowds of courtiers and merchants from all parts of the world—Spaniards and Italians, Germans, and Slavonians, and even Moors and Turks, all in their different costumes and following their different customs. ”

“ It is scarcely too much to say that he was the first landscape-painter, just as he was the first portrait painter in the modern sense of the word—the first who could paint a scene so that it could be identified after the lapse of centuries, the first who could paint a portrait so that the model {30} stands before us living and breathing, in all his beauty or ugliness. To appreciate the keenness of his vision one has only to examine the marvellous Arnolfini group at the National Gallery, with its almost scientific treatment of softly diffused indoor light. ”

“ As translated by Sir Charles Eastlake, in his "Materials {13} for a History of Oil-Painting," this epitaph runs as follows: "Take warning from me, ye who walk over me. I was as you are, but am now buried dead beneath you. Thus it appears that neither art nor medicine availed me. Art, honour, wisdom, power, affluence, are not spared when death comes. I was called Hubert van Eyck; I am now food for worms. Formerly known and highly honoured in painting, this was all shortly after turned to nothing. ”

“ If Joes van Eyck and Margaret van den Huntfanghe, who are entered in the register of the Ghent Guild of Painters for 1391, are the parents of the two masters who have made the name of Van Eyck immortal, we should have proof of their descent from artistic stock, which may be taken for granted in view of the fact that not only Hubert and Jan, but also a third brother, Lambert, and a sister, Margaret, devoted themselves to the art of painting, though Lambert—if he really be responsible for the pictures which stand to his credit—was a man of but mediocre talent ”

“ As the term "oil-painting" is generally accepted to-day, it is fairer to credit these brothers with the invention, than to speak of their achievement as an improvement in oil-painting, for hitherto the medium in common use had been a preparation of gum and white of eggs. And as there is neither definite proof nor any good evidence that oil had ever been used as a medium to mix the colours for panel-painting before Hubert and Jan made their experiments, we surely have an easy distinction to draw. ”

“ In Holland and in Flanders, in Brabant and in the other leading provinces, industry and wealth, agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, were ever augmenting. While Philip, in the zenith of his power, flushed with the passion and success of territorial acquisition, busied himself with the glorification of his sovereignty by founding at Bruges, amid a {6} scene of indescribable splendour, the Order of the Golden Fleece, "to the honour of God, of the Blessed Virgin, and of the holy Andrew," a principle more potent than even territorial power was evolving. ”

“ He was the first to fix upon his panels all the carefully studied and exquisitely wrought details of the actual world—sky and mountain and river, forest and fields, flowers and trees, and the churches and castles, houses and bridges, placed in Nature by human hands. ”

“ Horizontally the whole altar-piece is divided into three portions. The central panel of the middle tier is occupied by the Adoration of the Lamb. Like the rest of the picture, it is treated in a decorative spirit, the grouping of the figures, the architecture, and the foliage being almost geometrically arranged and balanced. In a very beautiful and peaceful landscape is set up, on a green mound in the centre, an altar, upon which stands the Lamb of God. ”

“ Marks quotes in his paper read at the Royal Society of Literature, June 24, 1903, Mr. Luffmann, Director of the School of Horticulture in Melbourne, says that the triangle formed by Seville, Cordova, and Osuna, is "a piece of country which is literally overrun by the plant," and that the root of the palmetto is commonly used in those parts as fuel. In Italy it is but of rare occurrence, though it grows in some of the islands of the Mediterranean; whilst in the parts of Spain and Portugal visited by Jan it is almost impossible for the visitor to avoid seeing it. ”

“ This nation had now become a power of natural strength and of dominating physique, virile and live and expansive, whose sons, with brooms at their mastheads, should later sweep the seas from whose destructive embrace she had succeeded in wresting herself.
Under the rule of the Burgundian the prosperity of the Netherlands rapidly increased. ”

“ John (now St. Bavo) in Ghent, and known from the subject of the chief panel as the Adoration of the Lamb. In its original form this altar-piece, which is now divided between St. Bavo Cathedral and the museums of Berlin and Brussels, was composed of twelve interior panels and a predella (which has unfortunately been destroyed) . Including the backs of the shutters, which, like the panels themselves, are covered with the most minute and exquisite painting, the painted surface extends to over 1,000 square feet. ”

“ Though it has since been doubted that Hubert or Jan van Eyck actually invented oil-painting, no evidence has yet been discovered to prove they were not the first to employ oil {23} as a medium in putting colour on the prepared panel. It is true that oil as a protective varnish was frequently used during the fourteenth century, and it is probable that some kind of oil-colour was employed in the colouring of statuary and in the painting of banners at an early period. ”

“ Though the theory of collaboration is an old one, doubts have arisen amongst modern critics, who have shown a growing tendency to ascribe the majority of the unsigned works solely to the elder brother, which attribution is refuted not only by the arguments here set forth, but by many early writers, including Guicciardini and van Mander, both notable and reliable historians. ”

“ In the pictures already discussed it has been proved fairly conclusively that Jan is responsible for the painting of the exotic plants, the snow-mountains, the flock of wild geese, and the architectural setting. The landscapes in the Ghent altar-piece contain exotic {43} plants, wild geese, and snow-mountains. Of the latter it is difficult to speak; they are whitish in colour, but their formation is neither so natural nor so well designed as in the Three Marys. The exotic plants alone prove Jan's work here. The birds may, or may not, be very important. ”

“ And it is easy to understand that the fame of the elder brother had in the sixteenth century become obscured and merged in that of the brilliantly successful Jan, the varlet de chambre and official Court painter. This "Giovanni of Bruggia," Vasari tells us, "after having given extreme labour to the completion of a certain picture, and with great diligence brought it to a successful issue, he gave it the varnish and set it to dry in the sun, as is the custom. ”

“ The jewels and ornaments worn by some of the Popes and Bishops are drawn with loving care, and the enrichments of the vestments betray a patience and skill that create wonder. In the distance, above the trees, are seen cities with many towers and churches, behind which are hills in the remote distance. ”

“ Marks produces further evidence to prove that Jan must have painted not only the foliage, but the {38} whole of the landscapes where the little palm appears, including in most cases the architecture. He draws attention to the architectural features in the Chancellor Rolin with Saints in the Louvre, and the signed and dated altar-piece by Jan in the museum at Bruges: "The architecture in these pictures is not a real architecture—that is, it has not been copied from any actual examples.... Agreement is general that it is an architecture invented, not merely copied." ”

“ Failing, then, even the probability that Hubert ever saw the palmetto growing, we must credit Jan with the painting of this plant, which, like all the other exotics, must have been carefully studied from nature, for they are represented in most minute, careful, and conscientious manner, and are absolutely true to {37} life. ”

“ Other exotic plants, which are not restricted to Spain and Portugal, occur in these pictures; but they are painted by the same hand, and betray the same loving adherence to truth, and a similar familiarity with the plants as they grow. It is therefore patent that they, too, must be ascribed to Jan, for it is impossible to suppose that the younger brother's work on these pictures was simply that of adding the by no means necessary dwarf-palm to Hubert's completed landscapes. Jan was probably responsible for the design and execution of these landscapes. ”

“ It is therefore not unreasonable to assign to him those {33} portions of the disputed pictures in which this palmetto appears. Some authorities hold that Jan did not have any independent artistic career before Hubert's death, and that in the division of labour Hubert's share was, as a rule, the general design and the painting of the figures, whilst Jan filled in the landscape and architectural backgrounds.
The collaboration theory has been advanced by Mr. A. Marks, whose knowledge of Flemish art is profound, and whose deductions are as conscientious as they are convincing. ”

“ The question as to the time and place of the invention of printing will probably never be settled to the satisfaction of Holland and Germany; but the men of Haarlem still claim upon very sound and substantial evidence that between 1423 and 1440 their citizen was the first to employ movable type, which is generally considered the invention of printing proper, as distinguished from the more ancient block-printing. ”

“ The chief events in the life of Jan van Eyck can be gathered fairly accurately from contemporary records and documents. In 1422 Jan entered the service of John of Bavaria, at that time Duke of Luxembourg, whose household accounts show the payment of a weekly wage to the artist, from October 25, 1422, till September, 1424, for the decoration of the palace at the Hague. ”

“ These pictures furnish evidence of the painter having visited Italy, for marble is represented in a most lavish manner. This marble is not characteristic of Northern architecture; its use is distinctly Italian. The painting of it displays the usual care and conscientiousness common to all Jan's works. Further points cited by Mr. Marks as evidence of Jan's work in various pictures are the representations of snow-mountains in various works, and the presence of a flying flock of geese. ”

“ The pilgrims are represented walking up a valley towards the spectator. On the right, in the background, is a hill covered with various trees, and in the distance is seen a river and meadows, with a town and low hills beyond. ”

“ The bridles and trappings of the horses are richly jewelled, and altogether the best is made of the opportunity of rendering with goldsmith-like precision all manner of gorgeous materials, costly and beautifully emblazoned banners, and armour and trappings of beautiful design. Tradition has it that two of the Judges are portraits of the painters, the one in a black garment with a red rosary, who is turning towards the spectator, being the younger brother Jan. To strengthen the theory that this figure was painted by Jan after Hubert's death, Mr. ”

“ The portrait known as The Man with the Pinks at the Berlin Museum, is one of the most characteristic of Jan's portraits. It shows an elderly man in a dark grey coat with fur cuffs and collar and a broad-brimmed beaver hat. ”

“ Now, the absence of the palmetto from this picture points to one of two conclusions—either the work left for Jan to do in the completion was comparatively trifling, or that the greater part of the picture, including the design of the landscapes, was already finished before Jan met with the palmetto.
That the work of the younger brother was not insignificant is distinctly stated in the text {44} of the inscription: "The painter, Hubert van Eyck, greater than whom none is to be found, began [the work] ”

“ Evidently Jan's portrait was pleasing to the eye of the Lowland monarch, for upon Philip expressing his satisfaction with the personal appearance {18} of Isabella, the ambassadors and the bride immediately embarked on the homeward journey. Soon after his return—namely, in 1431—Jan bought a house in Bruges, where he married and continued to work, after the completion of the Ghent altar-piece in the following year, until his death, which took place about the end of June, 1441. ”