扬·凡·艾克（Jan van Eyck）是早期尼德兰画派最伟大的画家之一，也是十五世纪北欧后哥德式绘画的创始人，被誉为“油画之父”。他以写实的精细描写和微妙的光影表现，使作品闻名于世。
近期，其名作《根特祭坛画the Ghent Altarpiece）》中的《神秘的献祭羔羊（Adoration of the Mystic Lamb）》阶段性修复工作告一段落。《根特祭坛画》（the Ghent Altarpiece）是15世纪荷兰画家凡·埃克兄弟创作的一幅祭坛组画中的核心图，展现了《圣经》中众人站在即将被献祭的羔羊前礼拜的场景。该组油画现存于比利时根特·圣·巴夫大教堂，被认为是世界上第一件真正的油画作品。
这场令人着迷的展览庆祝了祭坛画修复过程中的关键一步。扬·凡·艾克在他的合作者，其兄弟胡伯特（Hubert）逝世的六年后，于1432年完成了《根特祭坛画》的创作。自2012年以来，根特美术馆一直在认真地，科学地逐步对这幅名作进行修复。 现在最有名的部分，《神秘的献祭羔羊》（Adoration of the Mystic Lamb）重新出现了，回归了原来的色彩与细节。
原标题：扬·凡·艾克与修复后的根特祭坛画，神似而又震撼人心 。
本文是介绍在2月1日至4月30日在根特美术博物馆（Museum voor Schone Kunsten）举行的画展 “凡·艾克：一场光学革命“。(本文编译自《卫报》，news.sina.com.cn。）
We know Jan to have been an exquisite painter of miniatures who worked for the Dukes of Burgundy, and there are many aspects of the work here consistent with the detailed work of a manuscript illuminator, but there are also some important differences, particularly in scale. The relatively large size of the panels pushed Jan to new heights of virtuosity as a master of light; directional light, saturation, the softest scale of illuminations in the gradation of shadow, the construction of space through light and shade, symphonies of reflection and refraction alive in a world of textured surfaces—literally, the light of the world. Here, for the first time on such a scale, is a picture of the completely natural world saturated by the light of God—the perfect intermingling of divine illumination with the created world—and all described in paint. Van Eyck creates a world within the painting as substantial and real as the world outside the painting. Say what you will about Brunelleschi and Masaccio and linear perspective in Florence, without the subtlety of oil paint, their works look like mathematical equations beside the painted world of the Ghent Altarpiece. (khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/northern-renaissance1/burgundy-netherlands/a/vaneyck-ghentaltar)
Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon (or Portrait of a Man with a Blue Hood) is a very small (22.5 cm x 16.6 cm with frame) oil on panel portrait of an unidentified man attributed to the Early Netherlandishpainter Jan van Eyck.
The painting was commissioned and completed sometime around 1430. It contains a number of elements typical of van Eyck's secular portraits, including a slightly oversized head, a dark and flat background, forensic attention to the small details and textures of the man's face, and illusionistic devices. Artists did not give titles to their works during the Northern Renaissance period, and as with any portrait of a sitter whose identity is lost, the painting has attracted generic titles over the years. It had long been thought that the ring held in the man's right hand was meant as an indication of his profession as a jeweller or goldsmith and so the painting was long titled on variants of such. More recently the ring is interpreted as an emblem of betrothal and the titles given by various art historians and publications since are usually more descriptive of the colour or form of the headdress.
The painting was attributed to van Eyck in the late 19th century, but this was repeatedly challenged by some art historians until a 1991 cleaning when infra-red photography revealed an underdrawing and methods of handling of oil that were unmistakably van Eyck's.
The painting came into the collection of Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803), Habsburg governor of Transylvania from 1774 to 1787. Along with the rest of his collection at his Baroque house, Brukenthal Palace in Hermannstadt (Sibiu), it became part of a public collection that opened in 1817. Until 1948, the panel belonged to the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu, Romania. That year, the new Communist regime seized the panel, along with eighteen others it considered the museum's most valuable holdings, and gave it to the National Museum of Art of Romania in Bucharest. At the end of 2006, in time for Sibiu's stint as European Capital of Culture, the works were returned to the Brukenthal Museum.
(en.wikipedia.org/Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon)作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2020-9-5 03:11 本帖最后由 ngsunyu 于 2020-9-5 03:19 编辑
Jan van Eyck is credited with originating a style of painting characterised by minutely realistic depictions of surface effects and natural light. This was made possible by using an oil medium, which allowed the building up of paint in translucent layers, or glazes.
Little is known of van Eyck's origins, but he probably came from Maaseik, near Maastricht, and was of the gentry class. He is first heard of in 1422 working in The Hague for John of Bavaria, ruler of Holland. From 1425 he was at Bruges and Lille as painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. In 1428 van Eyck was sent to Portugal to paint Philip the Good's future wife, Isabella of Portugal.
Van Eyck appears to have painted many religious commissions and portraits of Burgundian courtiers, local nobles, churchmen and merchants. A small group of his paintings survive with dates from 1432 onwards. It is thought that his 'Portrait of a Man' may be a self portrait. (nationalgallery.org.uk) 作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2020-9-13 01:22 本帖最后由 ngsunyu 于 2020-9-13 01:26 编辑
《阿诺菲尼的婚礼》，又名《阿尔诺非尼夫妇》又名《阿诺菲尼的肖像》，由 荷兰早期画家 扬· 凡· 艾克（Jan van Eyck）画于1434年。该画收藏于伦敦英國國家美術館。
The Arnolfini Portrait must be one of the most famous and intriguing paintings in the world. A richly dressed man and woman stand in a private room. They are probably Giovanni di Nicolao di Arnolfini, an Italian merchant working in Bruges, and his wife.
Although the room is totally plausible – as if Jan van Eyck had simply removed a wall – close examination reveals inconsistencies: there’s not enough space for the chandelier, and no sign of a fireplace. Moreover, every object has been carefully chosen to proclaim the couple’s wealth and social status without risking criticism for aping the aristocracy.
The house is of brick. Its window opens onto a garden, and a cherry tree can be glimpsed through the open shutters. The large and luxurious bed is covered with expensive red woollen cloth, and red cushions and fabric are scattered on the bedside chair and the bench. This is not a bedroom but a reception room, and the bed – the most expensive item of furniture in the house – is an essential part of its furnishings. The chair and bench are ornately carved, an oriental carpet lies on the floor and a splendid brass chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Even the carelessly scattered oranges indicate wealth; such fruit was extremely expensive. But this is not a palace: the floor is boarded and the walls are plastered rather than panelled or hung with tapestries. We are looking into a reception room in the comfortable, modern mansion of a wealthy merchant.
The room’s restrained luxury is equalled by the careful sartorial splendour of the couple. Their clothes are expensive and fashionable, but not flashy. The man wears a hat of plaited straw, and a dark tabard, probably of silk velvet, trimmed with brown fur. Under it is a black, possibly silk, doublet, with silver cuffs. His muddy pattens (overshoes) lie discarded on the floor. The woman wears a fine green wool overdress with elaborate dagged sleeves and a long train which falls in thick folds around her feet. It is trimmed with a white fur, possibly ermine or squirrel belly. She is not pregnant, though she might look it: she is holding up her bulky gown in front of her, as ladies commonly did. Her hair is caught up in fashionable but modest horns, held in red nets, and covered with an intricately folded veil.
So who are the people in this intimate setting? They are clearly husband and wife, and for many years the painting was understood as representing a marriage ceremony, though not anymore. From early on the painting was identified as showing one ‘Hernoul le Fin’ or ‘Arnoult Fin’. The Arnolfini were an extensive family of Italian merchants, with various members in Bruges at this period. The most likely candidate is Giovanni di Nicolao di Arnolfini, known as Giannino or Jehannin, who would have been in his late thirties in 1434. The lady is probably his second wife, whose identity is unknown. They may have been friends of van Eyck – he painted another portrait of the man at an older age (Staatliche Museen, Berlin). A large round mirror hangs right in the centre of the composition, its convex glass showing not just the compressed and contorted room but also two men coming in through a door behind us. The first man seems to be raising his left arm and stepping down steps from the passage. Immediately above the mirror is a flamboyant signature: Johannes de Eyck fuit hic. 1434 (‘Jan van Eyck was here. 1434’). Are the men in the mirror van Eyck himself and his servant, arriving on a visit?
Technical analysis tell us much about how the picture was made. Infrared reflectography shows that the underdrawing was done in stages. In the first one van Eyck sketched in the figures, the main pieces of furniture and the basic architecture of the room, but left out many of the objects for which the painting is now famous: the watchful terrier, the chandelier, the chair, the beads hanging on the wall and the discarded shoes. These were painted in at a late stage. Van Eyck also altered the man and woman’s faces and bodies. In the initial underdrawing, Arnolfini had a larger face and even odder features. His feet were in a different position, his robe was shorter and his hat larger. His wife originally looked up towards her husband and her features were lower, so her forehead seemed even higher. Van Eyck often manipulated his sitters‘ appearance to emphasise heads and hands, but here the faces, especially the man’s, have been altered substantially. Arnolfini must have been a strange-looking man, and in the second underdrawing van Eyck improved his proportions and idealised his features.
Even the room itself if not a literal record of the couple’s home. Although it looks as if van Eyck has simply removed a wall, close examination reveals inconsistencies. The chandelier cannot fit into the space it seems to occupy; there is no sign of a fireplace; the bed is too short and the ornate convex mirror on the back wall seems impossibly large. As usual, van Eyck created a perfectly convincing show of reality but altered things to fit his aesthetic purposes and perhaps also to accord with Arnolfini’s aspirations.
However, there is nothing unusual in the pigments used – this illusion of reality relied on van Eyck’s skill, not on any technical innovation. Look closely and you can see an astonishing level of detail. The oranges reflect in the polished wood of the casement, and the beads hanging by the bed cast both shadows and reflections on the wall behind. For a painting that seems so precise, it was surprisingly quickly and freely painted. Van Eyck was almost bouncing the paintbrush off the panel to get small touches of colour, and he used his fingers and the brush handles as well as the points of the brushes. We can see his thumbprint by the shadow of the dog’s leg, and the bristles of the brush hanging by the bed are scratched into the paint.
The painting has a fascinating afterlife. By the sixteenth century it was in the hands of Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands. From her, it migrated into the Spanish royal collection. It next appears in the possession of James Hay, a Scottish soldier who was in Spain during the Peninsular War (1807–14). We don’t know how Hay got it, but he brought it back to England and it was bought by the National Gallery in 1842 for ‘the moderate price’ of 600 Guineas. It was our first Netherlandish painting. (nationalgallery.org.uk) 作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2020-9-13 01:29 本帖最后由 ngsunyu 于 2020-9-13 01:31 编辑
《天使報喜（The Annunciation）》是荷兰早期画家 扬· 凡· 艾克（Jan van Eyck）于1435年左右完成的 画作。现在藏于華盛頓國國家美術館。
The Annunciation described by Saint Luke is interpreted in terms of actuality in this painting, which was probably once the left wing of a triptych. The forms—even that of the archangel—seem to have weight and volume. Light and shadow play over them in a natural way, and with amazing skill, Jan van Eyck has distinguished between the textures of materials ranging from hard, polished stone to the soft, fragile petals of flowers.
Yet religious symbolism speaks from every detail, expounding the significance of the Annunciation, and the relationship of the Old Testament to the New. The structure of the church can be interpreted symbolically; the dark upper story, with its single, stained–glass window of Jehovah, may refer to the former era of the Old Testament, while the lower part of the building, already illuminated by the "Light of the World" and dominated by transparent, triple windows symbolizing the Trinity, may refer to the Era of Grace of the New Testament. The idea of passing from old to new is further manifested in the transition from the Romanesque round–arched windows of the upper story to the early Gothic pointed arches of the lower zone, and also in the depictions on the floor tiles: David beheading Goliath and Samson destroying the Philistine temple are both Old Testament events in the salvation of the Jewish people which prefigure the salvation of humankind through the coming of Christ.