THE GHENT ALTARPIECE: Margaretha Van Eyck

Polyphony

Jan Van Eyck painted celestial beings singing and playing music. His sister Margaretha modelled for one of these angels.  Although the singers and musicians do not have wings, they are usually considered to be angels. Dressed in brocade liturgical robes, eight angels are singing polyphonic music behind a music stand. In this period, polyphony was flourishing at the Burgundian court ...

PDF icon 1 Musical stories.pdf

A Paradisiacal Garden

In addition to biblical figures, saints and pilgrims, a multitude of flowers, plants and trees are also depicted in the Ghent Altarpiece. Margaretha Van Eyck helped create this paradisiacal garden. Jan Van Eyck’s naturalism in his depiction of plants and flowers in the first half of the fifteenth century was made possible by developments in medieval miniature painting. This type of representation is based on the observation of the visible world.

PDF icon A Van Eyck plant poster.pdf

Sources

Books

  • VIJD  Het verdriet van het Lam Gods
    Bruyneel, Jonas (2019) - Uitgeverij Lannoo
  • MAGNUM OPUS, het leven van Johannes, Hubert, Lambert en Margaretha Van Eyck
    Raymond Corremans (2018) - Uitgeverij C. De Vries-Brouwers
  • Een wonderbaarlijke tuin. Flora op het Lam Gods
    Hilde Van Crombrugge en Paul Van den Bremt (2016) - Uitgever:Provinciebestuur Oost-Vlaanderen, Monumentenzorg

Websites