Part 4

The _Virgin and Child, with St. Donatian, St. George, and the Donor, George van der Paele_, Canon of the ancient Cathedral of St. Donatian at Bruges, bears the date 1436, and is the most important of Jan van Eyck's religious compositions. The scene is in the circular apse of a Romanesque church, lighted by the soft rays that filter through the leaded windows. The Virgin, draped in a red cloak, is seen in the centre under a green canopy, holding the Christ-Child in her lap. She has the same heavy, matronly features as the Virgin of _The Annunciation_ in St. Petersburg and of the Chancellor Rolin picture in Paris, and is no more idealised than the by no means attractive infant Saviour, who is playing with a parrot. It is all very human and wonderfully true, and for that very reason lacking in spiritual significance. On the left stands St. Donatian in a gorgeous and marvellously painted brocade robe, whilst on the right St. George, in armour, presents the kneeling Canon van der Paele to the Virgin. The patron saint, again, {61} is obviously painted from a model of low rank in life--perhaps a peasant or a stableman; whilst the rugged irregular features of the donor are set down with an honest and painstaking straightforwardness that seems to delight in doing full justice to all the sitter's ugliness. As objective portraiture pure and simple, this head of van der Paele has probably never been surpassed in the whole history of art. The supreme mastery of Jan van Eyck manifests itself in the creation of a work of unforgettable beauty and sumptuous splendour from such unpromising material. The ugliness of the types chosen is forgotten when one's eyes revel in the rich scheme of colour, the extraordinary beauty of the painting of all the stuffs and accessories, the perfect modelling of the features, and, above all, the (for the time) amazing knowledge of the effect of light. With all the richness of pigment there is not a single note in this whole large panel that is not absolutely "in tone"; nothing is forced, nothing arbitrary, as though the fifteenth-century master had already adopted the principle of the nineteenth-century impressionists--"the first subject of a picture is light."

The van der Paele altar-piece was in the sacristy of the church of St. Donatian when {62} the old basilica was destroyed by the revolutionary troops. It was taken to Paris, together with much other artistic booty, but was returned to Bruges in 1814, and is now in the Museum of the Academy of that city. The drapery round the loins of the infant Saviour is a later addition which does not appear in the excellent early copy at the Antwerp Museum, from which our illustration is a reproduction. The original at Bruges bears the inscription in small Gothic letters: _Hoc opus fecit fieri magister Georgius de Pala, huius ecclesie canonicus, per Johannem de Eyck pictorem. Et fundavit hic duas capellanias de gremio chori domini M. ccc°. xxxiiij°., completing anno_ 1436°.

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At the Museum of Antwerp is the exquisite unfinished little painting of _St. Barbara_, signed and dated: JOHES DE EYCK ME FECIT 1437. The saint, with an open book on her lap and a palm-branch in her hand, is seated in front of an elaborately designed Gothic tower in course of construction. Around the tower are numerous figures of labourers, masons, horsemen, and others; and the background shows a landscape with mountains, castles, rivers, fields and trees, and a town on a hill. Technically, this picture {63} is supremely interesting, as it shows that at a comparatively late period of his life--a quarter of a century after the reputed discovery of oil-painting--Jan has not altogether discarded the practice of tempera-painting. For the whole composition, the pensive-looking saint and the widespread angular folds of her garment, the tower and the figures, are carefully drawn and shaded in brown tempera colour on a preparation of gum or white of egg. Only the part which required no special design, the sky, is painted in oil-colour. It may thus be assumed that it was the practice of the brothers van Eyck to work with oil-colours on a tempera foundation.

The _St. Barbara_ also confirms Karel van Mander's statement that Jan's sketches were more complete and more carefully wrought than the finished paintings of other artists. M. Henri Hymaus suggests that this _St. Barbara_ is the very painting which van Mander mentions as being in the possession of his master Lucas de Heere at Ghent, and "representing a woman behind whom was a landscape; it was but a preparation, and yet extraordinarily beautiful."

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Our last illustration represents, or is supposed to represent, _The Enthronement of Thomas à Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury_, and is in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chatsworth. In a late Norman church Thomas à Becket is seen in the foreground under a scarlet canopy, with the Holy Ghost hovering near, and above is a splendid crown in which the figure of the risen Christ is introduced; above the crown is a circle with a Virgin and Child. Three Bishops are engaged in placing the mitre upon the head of the saint, while a priest with an open book is kneeling before him. On the right are the clergy and on the left the laity, with King Henry II. at their head. On the border is the inscription: _Johes de Eyck, fecit, ano, M°.CCCCZI, 30° Octobris_. This inscription, if genuine, is the only evidence of Jan's authorship of the picture which has been entirely repainted, so that nothing of the original work is to be seen. The date, 1421, is eleven years earlier than any other dated picture by Jan van Eyck. It is scarcely necessary to point out the importance of this fact to the art historian in search of evidence of Jan's early activity; but whilst the picture remains in its present condition it cannot throw {65} any light upon the debated points. Only if the surface paint were removed would it be possible to judge whether below it is a real early work of Jan van Eyck, and what was the relative position of the two brothers before Hubert's death.

_The Enthronement of Thomas à Becket_ has an interesting pedigree. It was given by John, Duke of Bedford, to King Henry V., and was afterwards in the collection of the second Earl of Arundel, who died at Padua in 1646, bequeathing it to Henry, the sixth Duke of Norfolk, by whose son, the seventh Duke, it was sold. It came through the Duke's steward, Mr. Fox, to a Mr. Sykes, who sold it to the Duke of Devonshire in 1722.

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LIST OF WORKS, CATALOGUED ACCORDING TO LOCALITY

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

VIENNA MUSEUM.--Portrait of _Jan de Leeuw_ (Jan), signed and dated 1436.

Portrait of _Nicolas Albergati_, Cardinal of the Church of the Holy Cross (Jan), painted, probably, in 1431, when the Cardinal passed through Flanders on a political mission. This picture is mentioned in the inventory of the Archduke Leopold William, Governor of the Netherlands, 1655. A silver-point sketch for the portrait is in the Dresden Print Cabinet.

BELGIUM.

GHENT, CATHEDRAL OF ST. BAVO.--The _Adoration of the Lamb_ triptych (Hubert and Jan; see p. 46).

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ANTWERP MUSEUM.--_St. Barbara_ (Jan), 1437 (see p. 62).

_The Virgin and Child by the Fountain_ (Jan), 1439.

BRUGES MUSEUM.--_Virgin and Child, with St. Donatian, St. George, and the Donor, George van der Paele_ (Jan), 1436 (see p. 60).

Portrait of Jan Van Eyck's Wife (Jan), 1439.

BRUSSELS MUSEUM.--_Adam and Eve_: shutters from the _Adoration_ triptych at St. Bavo, Ghent (Jan; see p. 52).

LOUVAIN, M. G. HELLEPUTTE.--Triptych of the _Virgin and Child, with the Donor, Nicolas de Maelbeke, in Adoration_, unfinished (Jan), 1340. The shutters contain representations of Gideon standing before an angel, the burning bush, Aaron with a blossoming rod, and other subjects from the Old Testament.

BRITISH ISLES.

CHATSWORTH, DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.--_The Enthronement of Thomas à Becket_ (Jan (?); see p. 64).

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INCE HALL, MR. WELD BLUNDELL.--_Virgin and Child_ (Jan): a panel of very small dimensions and miniature-like execution, painted in 1432, and inscribed _Als ikh kan_ (As well as I can).

LONDON, NATIONAL GALLERY.--_Jan Arnolfini and Jeanne de Chenany, his Wife_ (Jan), 1434 (see p. 54).

Portrait of _Timothy_, "Leal Souvenir" (Jan), 1432 (see p. 58).

Portrait of a _Man with a Chaperon or Turban_ (Jan), 1433. Inscribed on the frame: _Johes de Eyck me fecit anno_ MCCCC 33 21 _Octobris_, and _Als ikh kan_. Formerly in the Arundel Collection.

RICHMOND, SIR FREDERICK COOK.--_The Three Marys at the Sepulchre_ (variously attributed to Hubert and Jan).

DENMARK.

COPENHAGEN, ROYAL GALLERY. _Robert Poortier, protected by St. Antony_ (Hubert).

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FRANCE.

PARIS, LOUVRE.--_Chancellor Rolin kneeling before the Virgin and Child_, with a river landscape seen through a loggia of three arches (generally ascribed to Hubert, but more probably by Jan).

BARON G. DE ROTHSCHILD.--_Virgin and Child, with St. Anne, St. Barbara, and a Carthusian Monk_, who has been identified as Herman Steenken, of Suutdorp, Vicar of a Carthusian Nunnery near Bruges (Hubert and Jan).

GERMANY.

BERLIN, NATIONAL GALLERY.--Six shutters from the _Adoration_ altar-piece of St. Bavo, Ghent (Hubert and Jan; see p. 48).

A replica of the _Virgin and Child, with a Carthusian Monk_, in the collection of Baron G. de Rothschild, Paris.

_Head of Christ_ (Jan), 1439.

Portrait of a _Knight of the Golden Fleece_, probably Baudouin de Lannoy (Jan).

The Man with the Pinks (Jan; see p. 59).

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DRESDEN GALLERY.--Triptych, _The Virgin and Child Enthroned_. On the wings are the figures of St. Catherine and the donor, and on the back of the shutters the Annunciation (Jan).

FRANKFORT, STAEDEL INSTITUTE.--_The Virgin and Child Enthroned_ (Jan).

LEIPZIG MUSEUM.--_Portrait of a Man_ (Jan?).

ITALY.

TURIN GALLERY.--Copy of _St. Francis receiving the Stigmata_. The original is in the collection of Mr. J. G. Johnston, Philadelphia.

RUSSIA.

ST. PETERSBURG, HERMITAGE.--_Calvary and the Last Judgment_. Wings of a triptych, the centre portion of which is lost (Hubert?).

_The Annunciation_ (Jan), formerly in the collection of King William II. of Holland. Bought for the Hermitage Collection for 13,000 francs.

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SPAIN.

MADRID GALLERY.--Copy of a lost painting by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, representing _The Triumph of the Church over the Synagogue_, also known as _The Fountain of Life_.

UNITED STATES.

PHILADELPHIA, J. G. JOHNSTON.--_St. Francis receiving the Stigmata_ (Hubert and Jan). A copy of this picture is at the Turin Gallery.

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.