Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele
The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele is a large oil-on-oak panel painting completed around 1434–1436 by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. It shows the painting’s donor, Joris van derPaele, within an apparition of saints. The Virgin Mary is enthroned at the centre of the semicircular space, which most likely represents a church interior. It is widely considered one ofVan Eyck’s most fully realised and ambitious works.
About Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele in brief
The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele is a large oil-on-oak panel painting completed around 1434–1436 by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. It shows the painting’s donor, Joris van derPaele, within an apparition of saints. The Virgin Mary is enthroned at the centre of the semicircular space, which most likely represents a church interior, with the Christ Child on her lap. St. Donatian stands to her right, Saint George—the donor’s name saint—to her left. The panel is noted for the finery of clothing, including exquisite representations of furs, silks and brocades, and the elaborate and detailed religious iconography. It is widely considered one ofVan Eyck’s most fully realised and ambitious works, and has been described as a “masterpiece of masterpieces”. It was installed on the main altar after the Iconoclasm of 1566 and remained there until the church was demolished in 1779. The painting is an innovative use of spatial illusionism by its complex and complex composition and is the only one in a horizontal framing and only one with a vertical framing. The artist was at the height of his fame and in high demand, and this, along with the large size of the panel, meant that the commission took a lot longer to complete than was initially envisioned. In return for the bequest, the church granted the canon a requiem mass, a daily mass and three votive masses a week, meant to intercede with the divine on his behalf.
In response he endowed a chaplaincy to the church and commissioned this work from vanEyck. He only completed it in 1436, however, and it is thought to have been installed in the nave of the church in Bruges in 1443 or 1436. Most likely the work was situated in theNave as an accompaniment to an altar for Saints Peter and Paul and used for memorial masses for van der paele and his family. An inscription on the lower imitation frame refers to der PAEle’s benefaction: “Joris van Der Paeel, canon of this church, had this work made by painter Jan Van Eyck, with this work of art. And he founded two chaplaincies of the Lord of the Lords. ’’ The panel has an overall sculptural look; the throne, windows, arches and hanging canvases borrow from the conventions of Romanesque architecture of Romano-Netherlandish architecture. It was commissioned as an altarpiece by the wealthy clergyman, but elderly and gravely ill, and intended the work as his memorial. He may have kept the panel in his private chambers or as a church altar. He donated it to theChurch of St. Donatian’s collegiate church either in1436 or on his death in 14 43; it remained in the church until the 17th century.
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