Northern Renaissance Art

To me it is both very amazing and expected that the advent of not only a new style of painting beyond realistic detail but a new kind of artist would change the art world to the degree it has. An artist that takes painting to a new level in both his own mind and in the mind of the rest world.  This technique of making fiction not only seem real but hold weight and gravity as they put it changed the way the public saw art. They were no longer merely able to look at art but experience it.  Van Eyck was so detailed in not only his technique but also his materials his use of light and shadows and his details to give every composition, every piece, and every form in them an identity. One that could be related to, watched and even seem to change.

            Style at this time meant everything, not only the style of a painting but of clothes, jewels, and tapestries. The style of a person or object a person owned resembled them personally.  This is why Van Eyck’s portraits were so sought after. I find it interesting that if I wanted a self-portrait it would be quite easy and inexpensive to find at the current moment. But back then as it is now, the subject does not make the painting the painter makes the subject. It was a time of elegance for the rich, in everything they encountered. And a portrait back, then done by Van Eyck, would spell out royalty, elegance, or wealth. In the documentary they were referring to the Duke of Burgundy and described his food, as well as everything he surrounded himself with “long to prepare and short to consume”. This description caught my ear as easily applied to Van Eyck’s painting style. His work was beyond tedious and was a lengthy process to get the detail and genuine color he needed to capture from his head. Yet it was very quickly consumed, realized and understood in a literal sense, because his forms were so life like.

These paintings were not only seen as works of art but precious religious artifacts, Van Eyck’s paintings were broken apart and hidden around Europe, they were both stolen and protected not for there worth in currency but in there realistic hope and innovation. He was praised as having secret powers in his techniques of painting and was even accredited at one point of inventing oil paint.  That alone is an indicator on how people viewed Van Eyck at the time and how his work not only changed art but also changed the attitude of people viewing art around the world. It was no longer a singular experience, no longer just about the aesthetic beauty, Van Eyck put a mirror in front of us with every piece he birthed.

Northern Renaissance art was work of elegance and commitment, Van Eyck was an Artist of purity and innovation, and he brought a movement to art that needed no other backup then his own materials and pieces. It was said in the documentary how Van Eyck was able to depict the infinite. It is amazing that it took only one artist to bring art to life for a world of people and make it a mortal experience that will be protected cherished and referenced until the end.