STrUCTioN - Taschen

May 2013
Medieval realist
Van Eyck under the magnifying glass
After our sumptuous, XL monographs on Leonardo, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and
Klimt, TASCHEN now puts Jan van Eyck in the spotlight. Leader of the Early
Netherlandish School and arguably the most important painter of the Early
Renaissance, van Eyck (c. 1390–1441) completely revolutionized the use of oil paints,
allowing for great intensity and depth of color; his own contemporaries were
astounded by the detailed realism of his style and the luminosity of his palette. With
its unprecedented precision (down to the most minute details reflected in the background
mirror), The Arnolfini Portrait is one of the most famous and beloved paintings
of all time. The Ghent Altarpiece is itself a milestone in the history of art; in it,
for the first time, pictorial conventions of the Middle Ages were replaced by a visual
language that is still current today. In his religious paintings in particular, Jan van
Eyck’s ground-breaking realism is married with a symbolism that allowed the artist to
illustrate even the most complex theological concepts in a highly accessible way.
This volume explores van Eyck’s complete life and work in large-scale illustrations—
featuring many enlarged details—setting the cultural and historical scene for the revolutionary
painting and life story of this enigmatic artist. The result is a richly faceted
panorama that looks not just at the content and artistic interpretation of van Eyck’s
paintings, but also at the patrons who commissioned them and the original functions
they were designed to fulfill. Analysis also extends to the production of his assistants,
whose workshop paintings are here presented to a broader public for the first time.
This comprehensive tome is rounded off by a catalogue raisonné of all the currently
known works by Jan van Eyck and his workshop, together with a detailed inventory of
lost works which has been reconstructed on the basis of the literature or later copies.
Opposite and pages 44-45:
Arnolfini Double Portrait (detail), 1434. Photo
© The National Gallery, London/Scala, Florence
Van Eyck. The Complete Work
Till-Holger Borchert
Hardcover, 11.4 x 15.5 in., 306 pp.
978-3-8228-5280-4
$ 150 / CAD 170
XL
Format
,!7ID8C2-ifciae!
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