The brothers Van Eyck

by Paul G. Konody

As regards the other panel, Mr. Six has advanced an interesting theory with respect to the soldier who wears a blue head-dress. He calls attention to a pentimento in substituting for a crown on this figure the blue head-dress. Mr. Six claims to have identified this figure as Jean Sans Peur, who probably saw the painting, and objected to being represented with a crown while Godfrey de Bouillon wore only a fur cap, and therefore persuaded the painter to alter it to the blue cap or bonnet which was the badge of the Burgundians against the Armagnacs. From this the supposed alteration must have taken place a little after 1410, whereas, according to early art historians, the altar-piece was only begun between 1415 and 1420.

THE JUST JUDGES, AND CHRIST'S WARRIORS.
BY HUBERT AND JAN VAN EYCK.

Though the limitations of the present little volume make it impossible to reproduce the other panels which originally formed part of the colossal altar-piece, it will not be out of place here to describe them in detail, as they all form part of a wonderfully complete and harmonious scheme. As pendants to the Judges and Warriors, to the right of the central panel were the Holy Hermits and the Holy Pilgrims. Rocks, cliff, and foliage are found in the background of the hermits, but, as suggestive of retirement and remoteness, no architecture is seen. The pilgrims are represented walking up a valley towards the spectator. On the right, in the background, is a hill covered with various trees, and in the distance is seen a river and meadows, with a town and low hills beyond. The pilgrims are led by St. Christopher, whose giant proportions tower above the rest of the procession.

The upper tier of the polyptych consists of seven panels, or rather three panels, the combined width of which corresponds with that of the Adoration panel below, and two shutters on each side. The grand figure in the centre panel, majestically enthroned, has been variously held to represent God the Father and Christ, and the Latin inscription may be equally applied to both. Perhaps it was the painter's idea to personify both in one figure. On His brow is the Crown of Heaven, and at His feet the Crown of Purity and Innocence, which the Lamb has won on earth. The panel to His right shows the Virgin, gazing in devotion at an open book in her hands—a conception of such purity and innocence that it recalls the spirit of Fra Angelico. To his left is the equally nobly conceived figure of St. John, an open book in his lap, with his right hand raised, as it were, in exhortation. The monumental style of these figures, and their deep significance, leave no doubt that these panels are from the brush of the elder brother Hubert.

These panels are flanked by two shutters on each side—a choir of angels and St. Cecilia with some angels within, and Adam and Eve at the extreme ends. The relentless realism of the latter, which borders close on ugliness, marks them as the work of Jan. The figures are undoubtedly painted from life, and were held to be so wonderful that for some time the whole altar-piece was known as the "Adam and Eve painting." Jan may also be held responsible for the angels and St. Cecilia, both of which have many characteristics that tally with well-authenticated works by the master. The predella which originally adorned the altar-piece has unfortunately been destroyed. The reverse of the lower shutters shows the figures of St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist, and portraits of the donor, Jodoc Vydt, and his wife; and of the upper shutters, the Annunciation and figures of prophets and sibyls. Only the Adoration and the three important panels above (God the Father, the Virgin, and St. John) remain at the Cathedral of St. Bavo at Ghent; the Adam and Eve are now at the Brussels Museum, and the other shutters at the Berlin Museum.

There are still extant portions of a copy of this great work which was painted at the command of Philip II. of Spain by Michael Cocxie. The wings of this copy are now added to the original centre portion at Ghent. There is a second copy of the Ghent altar-piece in the museum of Antwerp.

Upon the consecration of the great masterpiece at St. Bavo vast multitudes of people came into the city to see the work, the fame of which soon became known throughout the whole of Western Europe. And for more than four centuries it remained the wonder of Ghent.

Mr. R. Petrucci states that in 1904, during a demolition of a house in the Rue du Gouvernement at Ghent, the old walls were discovered of a Steen believed to have been the property of Jodoc Vydt, the patron of the van Eycks, who commissioned them to execute the Ghent polyptych. In a room upon the third floor, 40 feet up, a square window was discovered exactly answering in orientation and position to the town which appears in the Adoration of the Lamb, and which has been recognised as a view over the Rue Courte du Jour. In the foreground is seen the Steen, on the site of which was afterwards built the little butcher's shop near the present bird-market. Above it rises the tournelle of the weavers' chapel, which was used in turn as a butcher's shop, a pleasure resort, and a place of auction, and is now a garage for motor-cars. Further away, in the background, is the old fortified gate which defended the passage of the bridge of the canal of the coppersmiths. On the left of the scene is a representation of another front of the Steen, which stood on that side at the corner of the Rue Courte du Jour and the Rue de Brabant. The window reveals this scene exactly. "It seems certain," says Mr. Petrucci, "that this was the room in which Hubert and Jan, or, at any rate, Jan, van Eyck painted the famous polyptych of the Mystic Lamb."