"Virgin Mary and Child with a Book" by van Eyck: a majestic image and hidden symbols

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Jan van Eyck is a Flemish artist and one of the leading masters of the Dutch Renaissance, who managed to create a new direction in oil painting. Jan van Eyck is considered one of the most talented artists in 15th century Europe for his realistic religious and portrait painting. His distinctive three-quarter posture, coupled with his mastery of oil painting, breathed new life into portrait painting and made him one of the world's foremost painters. Van Eyck's main masterpiece is the altarpiece in the cathedral in Ghent (also called the "Ghent Altarpiece", 1432).

Oil development

Van Eyck's work is distinguished by an extremely innovative and technical quality, especially in the processing and manipulation of oil paints. The breakthrough came when the artist and his brothers mixed oil with real paints that they used. The result was gloss, transparency and color intensity. The invention of this technique transformed the appearance of painting by van Eyck and other future masters.

Religious themes

Jan van Eyck has created many religious paintings throughout his career. And especially famous is a series of portrait works - portraits of the Mother of God with the Child (on the throne, in the church, with Jesus reading, etc.). The common features in all these canvases are visible even with the naked eye: starting from a similar facial expression, attire and ending with the principle of constructing compositions on these canvases. All of the artist's paintings are connected by one thing - a scrupulous and careful study of materials, textures, jewelry and other details of the picture.

Virgin Mary and Child with a Book

Madonna van Eyck is focused, brooding, luxurious (as manifested in her dress and sparkling jewelry). And in this respect, Jan van Eyck is far from presenting the Madonna as a symbol of modesty and humility. In his work, she is, without exaggeration, luxurious and majestic. For all her thoughtfulness in the image of the Madonna there is also a grain of sadness (after all, she is the Mother of Jesus and she knows the bitter fate of her Baby). Her lips and her eyes are lowered - this also speaks of inner sadness. And what about the Baby? And Jesus is looking at the open book with curiosity. Of course, he still does not know how to read, but the new subject aroused the interest of the child. With one hand, Maria turns the page, allowing the child to recognize and study this new subject for him, and with the other she holds her child. The baby is only slightly wrapped in white linen. The central position of the Mother of Christ is emphasized by her bright red velvet robe, blue embroidered gown and a graceful bejeweled diadem.

The red mantle, spreading over most of the floor in the foreground of the painting, creates a wide pyramidal shape and thus forms the composition of the painting (the figure was created from the crown of the Madonna and forms the two lower corners with the hem of the red robe). The throne, as well as the furnishings (a chest of drawers, a bench by the window and the window itself), balance the composition. The luxurious throne of Our Lady, decorated with gold relief patterns, resembles the throne of King Solomon. An additional tone to the richly detailed interior is given by a Persian carpet peeking out from under the mantle of Mary and a green canvas with gold patterns on the heroine's throne.

As mentioned above, Jan van Eyck is also known for his development of new oil paints. And in this work, the artist used an oily medium to present a variety of objects with striking realism in microscopic detail. For example, he filled colored gems and metals with glowing inner light using subtle glazes above the highlights. Also masterfully painted is a basin of water, a jug on a chest of drawers, a glass vessel by the window (the artist's technique allowed the audience to contemplate the metal textures as absolutely realistic).

Symbolism

In addition to the technical features in the picture, one can also distinguish religious messages hidden in the interior items. On the windowsill, the viewer sees an apple, which can mean love, knowledge, wisdom, joy and death. In religious writings, it usually means temptation and original sin. Glass (or a glass vessel as in the picture by the window) symbolizes the fragility of life and may well mean the sad fate of Jesus and his suffering. To the right of Mary, on the dresser, we see a candle and a candlestick. A candle can indicate that time has passed, it is also faith in God. The candle can symbolize the light of Christ and purification. The candlestick is a symbol of salvation and light. A bronze vessel and a small basin appear in the scene of the Annunciation on the same "Ghent Altar" by van Eyck. The most important symbol is a book in the hands of a baby. Sacred books are the receptacles of the Word, the divine message. This is the Name of God, truth, and mercy.

Van Eyck, with his canvases with Madonna, managed to turn the religious genre into an almost secular one. Van Eyck's virtuoso technique, subtle modeling of images and careful study of details made him one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance in Europe and "Virgin Mary and Child with a Book" is a direct proof of this.