The Mystic Lamb by Jan and Hubert van Eyck, 1432 | The Mystic Lamb, Jan and Hubert van Eyck, St Bavo’s Cathedral Ghent, www.artinflanders.be, photo Hugo Maertens and Dominique Provost, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb by the Van Eyck Brothers
Medieval Iconography
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb is one of the most famous paintings in the history of Western art. Hubert and Jan van Eyck made the monumental triptych between 1424 and 1432. The painting is an iconic example of the works of the so-called Flemish Primitives, a group of painters to which the Van Eyck brothers are assigned.
The painting contains hundreds of figures in paradisial surroundings with a wealth of plants and flowers. Everything is depicted realistically. The title comes from the scene at the bottom of the picture in which the Mystic Lamb is depicted on an altar. In Christianity the lamb stands for Jesus Christ, who gave his life to redeem mankind from its sins.
Hubert van Eyck began the painting. After his death in 1426 his younger brother Jan completed it. The commission came from a rich nobleman from the Waasland, the Ghent alderman and church warden Joos Vijd and his wife Elisabeth Borluut. It was to serve as an altarpiece for their private chapel in the Saint-John’s Church in Ghent, the present-day Saint-Bavo’s Cathedral, where it can still be seen.
The Mystic Lamb, Jan and Hubert van Eyck, St Bavo’s Cathedral Ghent, www.artinflanders.be, photo Hugo Maertens and Dominique Provost, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
Het Lam Gods van Jan en Hubert van Eyck, rond 1430.
Medieval Iconography
The Mystic Lamb depicts an important theme of Christianity. For medieval Christians the meaning of such religious paintings was usually clear. Many of today’s viewers no longer understand the iconography.
The art work shows what virtues man must have to enter heaven and there to see the Mystic Lamb, which is a symbol of the Saviour Jesus Christ. The judges point to justice and the hermits to moderation. In the three central upper panels Mary and John the Baptist plead with the Supreme Judge, who is both Christ and God the Father, on man’s behalf.
At the same time it is characteristic of medieval iconography that we must not only look at the message of the whole. Every detail adds a subtle symbolic meaning. Hence there is so much more than can be seen at first sight. A white towel, for example, in the panel showing Mary refers to purity. The rose on the lawn stands for love, while the lily-of-the-valley symbolises innocence.
Focal points
Joannes Stradanus, Nova Reperta, Musea Brugge, verzameling Steinmetz, www.artinflanders.be, photo Hugo Maertens
Van Eyck in his studio, and behind him apprentices mixing oil paint, in a 16th-century engraving.
Van Eyck: an Optical Revolution
Jan van Eyck’s work has had a great influence on Western painters down to the present. What made him such an extraordinary artist? Van Eyck was exceptionally well trained technically: he combined sharp observational powers with excellent hand-eye coordination. Van Eyck perfected the composition of oil paint, among other things by adding drying agents. That made oil paint, previously an impractical material for painters, easier to use. This enabled Van Eyck to paint very precisely and represent materials almost tangibly. It also helped him expand the colour spectrum.
Just as important was his knowledge of the physical sciences of the time. Through his study of Arabic and Western works on optics, Van Eyck was able to apply perspective much better than his predecessors. He also gained an insight into the effect of light, which is central to his paintings. The interplay of light and shadow gave the figures and objects an almost three-dimensional form. This was a tour de force in medieval artists’ ateliers without constant lighting, only explicable through Van Eyck’s talent for observing his surroundings very precisely. Through his technical skill, the perfecting of oil paint and better knowledge of light, Van Eyck achieved an ‘optical revolution’ in painting.
Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Google Arts
Petrus Christus (around 1410-1476), Portrait of a Young Woman. The painter was active in Brussels and his work is strongly influenced by Jan van Eyck.
The ‘Flemish Primitives’
Jan van Eyck was only able to develop into the artist he was, thanks to the political and socio-economic context. He lived and worked in the Burgundian Netherlands, with their urban network and with a great deal of immigration and cultural exchange. Merchants and tradesmen brought new ideas with them. The luxury products they delivered were equally popular with the Burgundian court. Van Eyck also found himself caught up in the peripatetic court of the art-loving Burgundian duke Philip the Good.
In those surroundings Van Eyck became a trend-setter of the ‘Flemish Primitives’. These were a group of painters, to which Rogier van der Weyden (Roger de la Pasture), Dirk Bouts and Hans Memling also belonged. They were active in towns like Bruges, Ghent, Tournai, Leuven and Brussels. So that these were not just painters from the county of Flanders, but from the whole of the Low Countries and even beyond. They painted in oils and with an eye for realistic details. Biblical scenes and symbolism were situated in their own time, so that their paintings matched the existential world of their contemporaries.
They also painted lots of portraits, with figures who often look proudly out at the spectator. That reflected the growing self-confidence of their rich patrons. But the painters too were increasingly aware of their own ability and artistic talent. Jan van Eyck even signed his paintings: very unusual at the time.
Discover more on this topic
Karrewiet
Bron: VRT archief – 24 jan 2020
Weg van het Meesterwerk – Van Eyck
Bron: VRT archief, Sylvester Productions – 4 sep 2019
Vlaamse Primitieven in Brugge
Ludion, 2006.
Van Eyck: een optische revolutie
Hannibal, 2020.
De eeuw van Van Eyck 1430-1530: de Vlaamse Primitieven en het Zuiden
Ludion, 2002.
De Vlaamse primitieven: de meesterwerken
Mercatorfonds, 2002.
Het Lam Gods, Van Eyck: kunst, geschiedenis, wetenschap en religie
Hannibal, 2019.
Het Lam Gods
Davidsfonds, 2005.
Fiction
Dag Jan: het kleine rijk van Jan Van Eyck
Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, 2020. (10+)
Schilders & spionnen: het verhaal van de Vlaamse Primitieven
Davidsfonds/Infodok, 2008. (9+)
Margriete
De Geus, 2022.
Nu kijken
Een optische revolutie
Panorama. Agnus Dei, de rechtvaardige rechters
(1994)
Bijkomend luister/kijk materiaal
Van Eyck: De verlokking van de werkelijkheid
(2020)