Van Eyck: And the Founders of Early Netherlandish PaintingIn this volume, the great medieval scholar Otto Pacht is concerned with one of the key problems in the history of western art: the comet-like appearance of a new kind of painting in Northern Europe at the end of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century. The leading artists of this phenomenon were the Master of Flemalle and the Brothers Van Eyck, and the most outstanding work produced was the famous Ghent Altarpiece; it has puzzled scholars to this day. It is a topic that occupied Pacht throughout his long career, and the present book is based on a series of lectures given at the University of Vienna in the 1960s and early 70s. In this first English translation of the acclaimed German edition, Pacht examines the work of Jan and Hubert Van Eyck and their contemporaries in the context of a changing intellectual world - the transition from medieval thought to a perception that recognizes and embraces all facets of visible reality. The illustrations, in colour and monochrome, cover not only the major work of the Brothers Van Eyck and the Master of Flemalle, but also many comparative works. A special attraction is the folding plate, in colour, of the entire Ghent Altarpiece. |
Common terms and phrases
Adoration angels Annunciation Arnolfini Arnolfini portrait artist Berlin Bruges Brussels Burgundian central panel centre century Christ church colour composition contrast copy crown Crucifixion Deesis depicted depth detail drapery Dvorák Early Netherlandish painting evolutionary Eyck's Eyckian painting Father figures Flémalle's folds foreground Fountain frame Ghent Altarpiece Gothic grisaille ground hand Holland Hours of Turin Hubert van Eyck iconographic idea illusion inscription interior International Gothic Italian Jan van Eyck Jan's John the Baptist kneeling Lamb landscape light Limbourg brothers look low viewpoint Lucca Madonna mantle Mary Mary's Master of Flémalle medieval Mérode Altarpiece motif Museum niches object original Pächt Paele painter Panofsky Paradise parallel perspectival Petrus Christus pictorial space picture plane Plate portrait Rogier Rolin Rolin Madonna scene sculpture seated seen setting shadow spatial St John stand style stylistic surface symbolic theme throne tier trecento Triptych Turin miniatures viewer Virgin vision visual