end notes
An Exploration of Vision Reality and Illusion -- Jan van Eyck's Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele
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[1] Dore Ashton, Picasso on Art (1972) “Two statements by Picasso”
[2] Stephen Hanley, “Optical Symbolism as Optical Description: A Study of Canon van der Paele’s Spectacles”, Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 1:1 (Winter 2009)
[3] For oil paintings, pigments were mixed with linseed oil, giving them a radiant, transparent shine. Previously, most artists used tempera, a mixture of natural pigments with egg yolk, which gave a soft opaque effect. Van Eyck is sometimes credited as the actual inventor or oil painting (for example, by the 16th century art historian/critic Giorgio Vasari), but it appears that this is not correct: Anne van Oosterwijk, “Madonna with Canon Van der Paele”, Flemish Primitives https://vlaamseprimitieven.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/en/research/webpublications/madonna-with-canon-joris-van-der-paele/
[4] G.T. Faggin, “La conquete du monde visible”, in Chefs-Doeuvre de L’Art: Grands Peintres: Van Eyck, Hachette, Paris 1966
[5] The coats of arms of his family members also appear in the frame’s corners.
[6] This is a type of portable book whose bindings extend into a tapered attachment for the wearer’s belt/girdle
[7] On the lip lesion, see Massimo Papi, "The importance of the details: The curious dermatologic story of the Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele by van Eyck", Clinics in Dermatology, 39 (6): 1095–1099
[8] Craig Harbison, “Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting,” Simiolus 15 (1985): 101
[9] Concave lenses, suitable for improving farsightedness, were not invented till later
[10] The spectacles do not have earpieces, as these were not invented till much later
[11] Hanley, op cit
[12] Possibly, this was intended to suggest the white cloth placed on the altar as part of the ceremony of the Eucharist
[13] Miyako Sugiyama, “The Symbolism of the Parrot in Jan van Eyck’s Virgin and Child with Canon Joris van der Paele”, The Japan Art History Society, 176 p224
[14] The church also apparently held a relic of one of his arm bones
[15] It is cut-off part-way at the upper edge of the painting
[16] The cope and mitre accord exactly with the description of these garments in the church’s own historical inventories: Oosterwijk, op cit
[17] Oosterwijk, op cit
[18] This type of grouping in a painting became known as a “sacre conversazione” or holy conversation
[19] This contrasts with the composition of his later work The Virgin of Chancellor Nicolas Rolin (1437)
[20] Laura Cumming, A Face to the World, HarperPress, London, 2009 at 13-15
[21] Barbara G Lane, “The Case of Canon van der Paele”, Notes in the History of Art, vol. 9, no. 2, 1990, pp. 1–6
[21A] Lynn A. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, Macmillan, London 1995 at 295..
[22] See also Douglas Brine, “Jan van Eyck, Canon van der Paele, and the Art of Commemoration”, The Art Bulletin, September 2014
© Philip McCouat 2023. First published July 2023
Mode of citation: Philip McCouat, “An exploration of vision, reality and illusion: Jan van Eyck’s ‘Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele’”, Journal of Art in Society, www.artinsociety.com
We welcome your comments on this article
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[1] Dore Ashton, Picasso on Art (1972) “Two statements by Picasso”
[2] Stephen Hanley, “Optical Symbolism as Optical Description: A Study of Canon van der Paele’s Spectacles”, Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 1:1 (Winter 2009)
[3] For oil paintings, pigments were mixed with linseed oil, giving them a radiant, transparent shine. Previously, most artists used tempera, a mixture of natural pigments with egg yolk, which gave a soft opaque effect. Van Eyck is sometimes credited as the actual inventor or oil painting (for example, by the 16th century art historian/critic Giorgio Vasari), but it appears that this is not correct: Anne van Oosterwijk, “Madonna with Canon Van der Paele”, Flemish Primitives https://vlaamseprimitieven.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/en/research/webpublications/madonna-with-canon-joris-van-der-paele/
[4] G.T. Faggin, “La conquete du monde visible”, in Chefs-Doeuvre de L’Art: Grands Peintres: Van Eyck, Hachette, Paris 1966
[5] The coats of arms of his family members also appear in the frame’s corners.
[6] This is a type of portable book whose bindings extend into a tapered attachment for the wearer’s belt/girdle
[7] On the lip lesion, see Massimo Papi, "The importance of the details: The curious dermatologic story of the Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele by van Eyck", Clinics in Dermatology, 39 (6): 1095–1099
[8] Craig Harbison, “Visions and Meditations in Early Flemish Painting,” Simiolus 15 (1985): 101
[9] Concave lenses, suitable for improving farsightedness, were not invented till later
[10] The spectacles do not have earpieces, as these were not invented till much later
[11] Hanley, op cit
[12] Possibly, this was intended to suggest the white cloth placed on the altar as part of the ceremony of the Eucharist
[13] Miyako Sugiyama, “The Symbolism of the Parrot in Jan van Eyck’s Virgin and Child with Canon Joris van der Paele”, The Japan Art History Society, 176 p224
[14] The church also apparently held a relic of one of his arm bones
[15] It is cut-off part-way at the upper edge of the painting
[16] The cope and mitre accord exactly with the description of these garments in the church’s own historical inventories: Oosterwijk, op cit
[17] Oosterwijk, op cit
[18] This type of grouping in a painting became known as a “sacre conversazione” or holy conversation
[19] This contrasts with the composition of his later work The Virgin of Chancellor Nicolas Rolin (1437)
[20] Laura Cumming, A Face to the World, HarperPress, London, 2009 at 13-15
[21] Barbara G Lane, “The Case of Canon van der Paele”, Notes in the History of Art, vol. 9, no. 2, 1990, pp. 1–6
[21A] Lynn A. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, Macmillan, London 1995 at 295..
[22] See also Douglas Brine, “Jan van Eyck, Canon van der Paele, and the Art of Commemoration”, The Art Bulletin, September 2014
© Philip McCouat 2023. First published July 2023
Mode of citation: Philip McCouat, “An exploration of vision, reality and illusion: Jan van Eyck’s ‘Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele’”, Journal of Art in Society, www.artinsociety.com
We welcome your comments on this article
Back to HOME