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Flanders 579

“Framed Paintings,” page 578) reinforce this identi!cation. Across the top, Jan wrote “As I can” in Flemish using Greek letters. One suggestion is that this portrait was a demonstration piece intended for prospective clients, who could compare the painting with the painter and judge what he “could do” in terms of recording a faith- ful likeness. Across the bottom appear the date and a statement in Latin: “Jan van Eyck made me.” "e use of both Greek and Latin suggests that the artist viewed himself as both a learned man and a worthy successor to the fabled painters of antiquity.

Rogier van der Weyden When Jan van Eyck began work on the Ghent Altarpiece, Rogier van der Weyden (#$%. 20-1) was an assistant in the work- shop of Robert Campin (#$%. 20-8), but the younger Tournai painter’s fame soon eclipsed Campin’s and eventually rivaled Jan’s. Rogier’s renown rested on his skill in recording indi- vidual features and character in his portraits (#$%. 20-12A) and especially on the dynamic compositions of his narrative works, which stress human action and drama. He concen- trated on Christian themes, especially those episodes in the life of Jesus that elicited pow- erful emotions—for example, the Cruci!xion and Pietà (the Vir- gin Mary cradling the dead body of her son)—moving observers deeply by vividly portraying the su&erings of Christ.

Deposition. One of Rogier’s early masterworks is Deposition (#$%. 20-13), the center panel of a triptych commissioned by the archers’ guild of Louvain for the church of Notre-Dame hors-les- murs (Church of Our Lady—the Virgin—outside the [town] walls). Rogier acknowledged the patrons of this large painting by incorpo- rating the crossbow (the guild’s symbol) into the decorative trac-

ery in the corners. Instead of creating a deep landscape setting, as Jan van Eyck might have, Rogier compressed the !gures and action onto a shallow stage with a golden back wall, imitat- ing the large sculptured shrines so popular in the 15th century, of which Jacques de Baerze’s Retable de Champ- mol (#$%. 20-3) is one of many Nether - landish examples (compare #$%'. 20-21 and 20-22). "e device admirably served his purpose of expressing max- imum action within a limited space

patrons became interested in the reality (both physical and psycho- logical) that portraits could reveal.

In the 15th century, Flemish patrons eagerly embraced the opportunity to have their likenesses painted. "e elite wanted to memorialize themselves in their dynastic lines and to establish their identities, ranks, and stations with images far more concrete than heraldic coats of arms. Portraits also served to represent state o(- cials at events they could not attend. Royalty, nobility, and the very rich would sometimes send artists to paint the likeness of a pro- spective bride or groom. For example, when young King Charles VI (r. 1380–1422) of France sought a bride, he dispatched a painter to three di&erent royal courts to make portraits of the candidates. But prosperous merchants also commissioned portraits for their homes. An early example of secular portraiture is Jan van Eyck’s dif- !cult-to-interpret depiction of the banker Giovanni Arnol!ni (see “Giovanni Arnol!ni and His Wife,” page 577).

Man in a Red Turban. Whatever the intended meaning of Giovanni Arnol!ni and His Wife, the painting is representative of the growing importance of secular portraiture as an income- producing artistic genre in 15th-century Flanders. In Man in a Red Turban (#$%. 20-12), the man whom Jan van Eyck portrayed looks directly at the viewer. "is is the !rst known Western painted portrait in a thousand years where the sitter does so. "e level, composed gaze, directed from a true three-quarter head pose, must have impressed observers deeply. "e painter created the illu- sion that from whatever angle a viewer observes the face, the eyes return that gaze. Jan, with his considerable observational skill and controlled painting style, injected a heightened sense of speci!city into this portrait by including beard stubble, veins in the bloodshot le) eye, and weathered, aged skin. Although a de!nitive identi!ca- tion of the sitter has yet to be made, most art historians consider Man in a Red Turban a self-portrait, which Jan painted by looking at his image in a mirror (as he depicted himself in the mirror in the Arnol!nis’ home; #$%. 20-11). "e inscriptions on the frame (see

20-13 R!"#$% &'( )$% W$*)$(, Deposition, center panel of a triptych from Notre-Dame hors-les-murs, Louvain, Belgium, ca. 1435–1442. Oil on wood, 79 2 580 + 89 7

1 80. Museo

del Prado, Madrid.

Deposition resembles a relief carving in which the biblical figures act out a drama of passionate sorrow as if on a shallow theatrical stage. The painting makes an unforgettable emotional impression.

20-12A VAN DER WEYDEN, Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1460.

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