1000 Paintings of Genius. Victoria Charles

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      67. Jan van Eyck, c. 1390–1441, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434, Oil on oak panel, 82.2 × 60 cm, National Gallery, London

      One of the most discussed of all paintings, van Eyck’s masterpiece of natural symbolism presents objects which have been given special meaning apposite to this couple’s marriage, yet the same objects are appropriate to the scene in themselves. The work is, in effect, a visual in how one can find synchronicity and deeper meaning in everyday circumstances. The lines between the neatly groomed dog and the pairs of discarded shoes create a triangle. The dog (symbolising loyalty) complements the shoes (also symbolising domesticity). The man’s feet are firmly in the middle of the lower triangle, indicating his vow of stability. The faces of the married couple and their clasped hands form the same size-and-shape triangle. The couple stands hand-in-hand as their other hands wear wedding rings, as if their love is authentic and complemented by, rather than caused by, their wedding vows. In the middle of that triangle is a mirror in a circular shape recalling eternity. Ten of the ‘Stations of the Cross’ are symbolised around the frame of the mirror. Prayer beads hang on the wall to the left of the stations-mirror. The reflection of the mirror shows the couple from the mirror’s point of view, as if creating a circle of time and space. A statue of a saint on the bedpost is crushing a dragon (symbolising evil). The elaborate signature of the artist is on the wall below the mirror. The chandelier holds a single, lit candle. A superstition at the time suggested that a single, lit candle near the wedding bed would assure fertility.

      68. Jan van Eyck, c. 1390–1441, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Portrait of Jan de Leeuw, 1436, Oil on panel, 25 × 19 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

      Considered the founder of western portraiture, van Eyck depicts here Jan de Leeuw, member of the Goldsmith Guild in Bruges.

      69. Stefano di Giovanni di Console Sassetta, 1392-c. 1450, Early Renaissance, Sienese School, Italian, The Mystic Marriage of Saint Francis with Chastity, 1437–1444. Tempera on panel, 95 × 58 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly

      Sassetta’s work shows certain conservatism, especially in the architectural structures of International Gothic design. However, his figures are set in the unity of Renaissance pictorial space.

      70. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399–1464, Northern Renaissance, Flemish, Deposition, c. 1435, Oil on panel, 220 × 262 cm, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

      The life-sized figures and the gold background recall the influence of Campin on van der Weyden as the composition imitates the low-reliefs from Tournai (where the artist came from

      71. Antonio Puccio Pisanello, 1395–1455, International Gothic, Italian, Portrait of a Princess of the House of Este, c. 1435–1440, Oil on panel, 43 × 30 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris

      Pisanello is regarded as the preeminent master of the International Gothic style in Italian painting, but most of his major works have perished. This portrait of a young woman (assumed to be Ginevra d’Este) is flat – due to the use of medieval patterns in a ‘modern’ way, and its flowers and butterflies, though drawn from nature, seem like ornamental patterns from French or Flemish tapestries.

      72. Fra Giovanni Angelico, 1387–1455, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Deposition (Pala di Santa Trinita), 1437–1440. Tempera on panel, 176 × 185 cm, Museo di San Marco, Florence.

      This painting was originally an Altarpiece in the sacristy of the church Santa Trinita in Florence. The main panel figures the Deposition and the pilasters on each side represent different saints. Fra Angelico was officially beatified by the Vatican in 1984 but he has long been called Beato Angelico (The Blessed Angelico).

      73. Paolo Uccello, 1397–1475, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, The Battle of San Romano (Full title ‘Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano’), 1438–1440, Egg tempera with walnut oil and linseed oil on poplar, 181.6 × 320 cm, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

      Paolo Uccello

      (1397–1475 Florence)

      Paolo di Dono was called ‘Uccello’ because he loved birds and the Italian word for bird is uccello. As well as painting on panel and in fresco, he was also a master of mosaics, especially in Venice, and produced designs for stained glass. We can feel the influence of Donatello especially in a fresco representing the Flood and the Recession, whereas the figures in this work is reminiscent of Masaccio’s frescos of Brancacci chapel. His perspectives studies are very sophisticated, recalling the Renaissance art treatises of Piero della Francesca, da Vinci or Dürer. He was a major proponent of the Renaissance style. However, if his masterwork The Battle of San Romano (1438–40) has Renaissance elements, Uccello’s gold decorations on the surface of his masterpieces are indebted to the Gothic style.

      74. Antonio Puccio Pisanello, 1395–1455, International Gothic, Italian, The Vision of Saint Eustace, 1438–1442. Tempera on panel, 54.8 × 65.5 cm, National Gallery, London

      Pisanello has carefully studied the animals in this painting, using both drawings from pattern books as well as studies from life.

      75. Giovanni di Paolo, 1403–1482, Early Renaissance, Sienese School, Italian, Madonna of Humility, c. 1442. Tempera on panel, 62 × 48.8 cm, Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Marie Antoinette Evans Fund, Boston

      76. Fra Giovanni Angelico, 1378–1445, Early Renaissance, Florentine School, Italian, Noli Me Tangere, 1440–1441, Fresco, 180 × 146 cm, Convento di

      San Marco, Florence

      77. Robert Campin (Master of Flémalle), СКАЧАТЬ