Jan%20van%20Eyck

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Jan van Eyck

• By Taylor Plunkett

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Renaissance Significance on Society

• The Renaissance was the rebirth of society. The
  common people started to learn and think for
  themselves and that led to a slight separation
  from the Church. Thoughts became less focused on
  religion and more focused on literature and art.
  This time period brought out the -isms in
  people. The -isms are humanism, individualism,
  scientific naturalism, and secularism.

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About Jan van Eyck

• Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter. His estimated
  date of birth is about 1395. In the early 1420s,
  van Eyck was the court painter for John of
  Bavaria. After the death of John of Bavaria, van
  Eyck became the painter for Philip the Good. In
  1454, he was named the leading painter of his
  day by humanist Bartolomeo Facio. Van Eycks
  painting was of both religious and secular
• subjects. He uses symbolism as well as realism to
  show
• a coexistence between the spiritual and material
  world.
• Jan van Eyck made the use of oil paints popular
  during
• the Renaissance.

Self portrait of Jan van Eyck.1433
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Portraits and the -isms

• Jan van Eyck was sought after as a portrait
  artist during the Renaissance. The amount of
  people getting their portrait painted increased
  vastly. Typically, only the upper class and the
  clergy would get their portraits done. However,
  with the spread of humanism and individualism the
  number of middle class wanting their portrait was
  really affected. Humanism taught the middle class
  that things did not always have to be focused on
  religion, they can be centered on the ideals of
  humans too. To add to that, individualism told
  people to think more for themselves. What better
  way to do that than with a self portrait by van
  Eyck?

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• Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, 1439 (Left) The
  Arnolfini Portrait, 1434 Portrait of a Man with
  Carnation, 1435 (Right)

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Portraits and the -isms

• One does not particularly find influence from
  secularism or scientific naturalism in Jan van
  Eycks paintings.Van Eyck created many
  altarpieces as well as religious paintings in
  general. It does not appear to me that van Eyck
  believed religion should not play a role in
  public society, such as government and education.
  Jan van Eycks paintings did not have inspiration
  from scientific naturalism in my opinion because
  they did not focus on the specific anatomy and
  function of an individual or any other aspect of
  science.

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• The Ghent Altarpiece-Singing Angels, 1427-29
  (Above) Crucifiction, 1420-25 (Right)

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Spirit of the Renaissance

• I believe the portraits painted by Jan van Eyck
  reflect the spirit of the Renaissance. Not only
  do they show people starting to break away from
  the majority and do something for themselves but,
  they also support two of the four -isms,
  humanism and individualism.