The Historical Review/La Revue Historique

Vol. 17, 2020

An Optical Revolution and an “Unfortunate” Exhibition: “Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution,” Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent

Drakopoulou Eugenia https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.27076

To cite this article:

Drakopoulou, E. (2021). An Optical Revolution and an “Unfortunate” Exhibition: “Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution,” Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, 17, 383-386. doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.27076

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An Optical Revolution and an “Unfortunate” Exhibition: “Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution,” Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium (1 February–30 April 2020)

“Van Eyck: An Optical Revolution”, Τhe Ghent Altarpiece and the History the largest Jan van Eyck exhibition in history, opened on 1 February 2020 at The “Ghent Altarpiece”, or the “Adoration the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. Only of the Mystic Lamb”, is a large and about 20 works of this Flemish master, complex fifteenth-century polyptych who definitively changed the Western art altarpiece, a masterpiece of European of painting in the 1420s and 1430s, have art, signed by brothers Hubert and Jan been preserved worldwide. Half of his van Eyck and completed before 1432. oeuvre travelled to Ghent, together with The altarpiece was commissioned by work from van Eyck’s studio and copies Joost Vijdt, a wealthy merchant from of paintings that have since disappeared Ghent and his wife, Lysbette, for the and more than hundred masterpieces church of St John the Baptist (which has from the late Middle Ages. become St Bavo’s Cathedral), where it The altarpiece “Adoration of the remains. It is composed of a total of 24 Mystic Lamb”, displayed outside St Bavo’s framed panels, which offer the viewer Cathedral for the first and last time in two different scenes, depending on its history, was at the heart of the exhibition. open or closed position. It represents The significance of this cultural event a “new conception of art”, in which the was immediately appreciated by the idealisation of the medieval tradition public. The second day of the exhibition gives way to a rigorous observation of was so crowded that even the museum nature and human representation. The staff themselves were surprised, while two panels depicting Adam and Eve, after the closure due to coronavirus, on whose nudity was considered shocking, 12 March 2020, a couple of million euros especially in the context of a cathedral, was reimbursed to all ticketholders. were sold to the Belgian state in 1861 and

The Historical Review / La Revue Historique Section of Neohellenic Research / Institute of Historical Research Volume XVII (2020)

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 01/10/2021 07:47:47 | 384 Eugenia Drakopoulou deposited at the Royal Museums of Fine officials of the Vichy regime had accepted Arts of Belgium in Brussels. the transfer of the altarpiece to Germany. History has not been kind in is Between 2012 and 2016, the Belgian treatment of this so important artwork, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage something which was repeated recently. restored eight outer panels in the One art historian describes the altarpiece Museum of Ghent. During the exhibition, as “the most frequently stolen work of the eight restored outer panels of the art in history” for having been the object closed altarpiece, together with the not of thirteen thefts in six centuries. In yet restored representations of Adam and 1940, a decision was made in Belgium Eve, returned to the Museum of Fine Arts to send the altarpiece to the Vatican for while the ten remaining panels remained safekeeping. The altarpiece, en route to on display in St Bavo’s Cathedral. Now the Vatican, was in France when Italy the outer panels will rejoin the interior declared war and aligned itself with panels in the cathedral, where they will the Axis forces alongside Germany. remain indefinitely. Given that the panels The altarpiece was transferred to Pau, were on show separately in the museum’s in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, for galleries, the complete display in the the duration of the war. In 1942, Hitler cathedral remains a unique experience. ordered that the altarpiece be seized and brought to Germany to be stored Art and Politics in a castle in Bavaria. After air raids by It is no coincidence that the optical the Allies, keeping the altarpiece in the revolution that the court painter and the castle had become too dangerous, and it diplomatic traveller Jan van Eyck started was moved to the Altaussee salt mines in painting took place in the Burgundian in Austria. The Belgian and French Netherlands. In the fifteenth century, authorities protested against the seizure it was the most urbanised region north of the altarpiece, and the head of the of the Alps, a region where trade and regiment responsible for the protection industry flourished. Ghent and Bruges, of works of art within the Wehrmacht the cities in which both Hubert and was dismissed, after having spoken out Jan were most often associated, were against this confiscation. At the approach authentic metropoles in the fifteenth of American troops, a senior German century, which had 60,000 and 40,000 official gave the order to blow up the inhabitants, respectively. The network mine, which also sheltered other works of production, trade, consumption of art. Eight 500 kg bombs were placed and cultural exchange favoured the in the mine, but a disagreement within development of a creative environment the general staff made it possible to avoid in which the arts flourished and where the disaster. The altarpiece was found by the spectacular innovations of van Eyck the American Monuments Men in the were welcomed with enthusiasm. Altaussee salt mines at the end of the war In van Eyck’s work, the visual dialogue and returned to Belgium. A ceremony between painting and other disciplines, such took place at the Royal Palace of Brussels; as sculpture and goldsmithing, reflects the no French official was invited, because climate of the period.

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Jan van Eyck can certainly be described as a court painter. From 1422 onwards, he resided in the circle of Dutch count Jan of Bavaria and, after his death, joined Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, who was an illustrious patron of the arts. In addition to his function as court painter, van Eyck was also given a diplomatic role; the artist was commissioned to travel to Portugal in order to paint a portrait of Infanta Isabella, the future bride of Philip, and to accompany his master on several secret missions. While on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, van Eyck met John II, king of Castile, and Mohammed, sultan of Granada. Through his patron, Jan de Leeuw, van Eyck was able to expand his Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna academic knowledge. The development of his naturalistic painting style was sitting in niches. Van Eyck’s observations undoubtedly fuelled by the presence of also show a deep-rooted interest in the libraries and intellectuals at the court. painting of light, so crucial to his optical revolution. People or interiors become The Optical Revolution three-dimensional through the absence of light in the shadows or through the The optical revolution, in more ways light that shines on them. than one, brought about by the Flemish master six hundred years ago continues A Thematic Discovery to fascinate. The oil painting technique, greatly improved by van Eyck, inspired No less than 13 galleries were filled with painters throughout Europe and continues the greatest art of the late Middle Ages. to resonate to the present day. In addition, The outer panels of the altarpiece and the van Eyck’s art is based on the observation other works by van Eyck guided the visitors 1 of reality in such a way that it seems as if through the units of the exhibition. “Fall he sees the world with different eyes than his predecessors. Portraits have never 1 The exhibition was made possible through been as lifelike as with van Eyck (fig.). His the collaboration with the Flemish Commu- painting of natural phenomena, such as nity–Department of Culture, Youth & Media, clouds and the moon, or of the splashing the City of Ghent, Visit Flanders, St Bavo’s water in a fountain, is unprecedented. Cathedral, the Ghent University Art Histori- Van Eyck seeks not only to imitate, but cal Department, the Henri Pirenne Institute to create illusions too. The portraits of the for Medieval Studies at Ghent University, commissioners of the Ghent Altarpiece the Flemish Research Centre for the Arts seem so lifelike as if they were actually in Burgundian Netherlands, and the Royal

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and Redemption”, with the towering painting, miniature, drawing, sculpture figures of Adam and Eve, “Saints in a and tapestry. Furthermore, van Eyck’s Landscape”, “Mother and Child”, “The optical revolution was placed in a broad- Word of God” and “Architecture”, which er perspective, by confronting him with occupies a pivotal role in van Eyck’s oeuvre, his great Italian contemporaries Gentile “Imitating Sculpture”, with the two saints da Fabriano, Fra Angelico, Pisanello, John painted in grisaille, “The Individual”, Masaccio and Benozzo Gozzoli, for a with the age-related characteristics and comparison that had never been under- even facial distortions of the expressive taken to this extent. More than a hun- portraits, and “The Divine Portrait”. I dred international loans, from the Vati- suppose that the exhibition curators took can Museums, Louvre, Museo Nacional the necessary precautions not to offend del Prado in Madrid, Gemäldegalerie in religious feelings. In the units of the Berlin, Galleria Doria Pamphilj in Rome, exhibition, they preferred to emphasise National Gallery of Art in Washington the presence of the divine in general and J. Paul Getty Museum in Los An- (for example, “The Word of God”, “The geles, were among the many collections Divine Portrait”) and they avoided direct that contributed to the Ghent exhibition references to the Christian religion. Hence as well as at least half of the 20 known the designation, for example, “Mother and works by van Eyck.2 Child”, which focuses on Madonna and Never before this “unfortunate” Child representations. Let us not forget exhibition could one come closer to that in Ghent there are often small-scale the master van Eyck, his genius and his terrorist attacks, which also occurred on legacy. the second day of the exhibition. Throughout the galleries, van Eyck Eugenia Drakopoulou was brought together with over a hundred masterpieces from his studio and by Institute of Historical Research / NHRF his greatest contemporaries and follow- ers. To sketch the fine-meshed artistic context and the cross-pollination in the Burgundian Netherlands of the fifteenth century, all art forms were represented: 2 The exhibition website https://vaneyck2020.( be) contains details on the exhibition themes, Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA). the masterpieces on display, the life and revo- The exhibition was compiled by Maximil- lution of Jan van Eyck in six languages as iaan Martens, Till-Holger Borchert, Jan well as wonderful digital photos. Till-Holger Dumolyn, Johan De Smet and Frederica Borchert, Director Museums Bruges and Van Dam, with the cooperation of Matth- one of the curators of “Van Eyck: An Opti- ias Depoorter. Directing the project were cal Revolution”, offers a guided tour at https:// Johan De Smet and Ellen Wyns. vaneyck2020.be/en/van-eyck-from-home/.

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