Renaissance Man
-Jan Van Eyck
His life
Jan Van Eyck was a painter born in 1390, in Maastricht, Netherlands but spent most of his life in Burgundy. There he started working for John of Bavaria to help decorate his castle but than later mainly for Duke Philip. People believed that he learned to paint from his two older brothers who were also painters. In Van Eyck's short life he was married and had two children before he died in 1441. He used the knowledge of everything around him to use significant detail in his paintings, this shows the ism "Scientific Naturalism" in his paintings. Also because he worked with many dukes, he interacted with the ism of "capitalism".
Madonna of Chancellor Rolin
This piece "Madonna of chancellor Robin" was created in 1435 and is now held in the Museum de Louver in Paris, France. Jan Van Eyck rediscovered the art of oil painting and used it in his works by applying layer upon layer of the thin oil glaze. Because of his unnoticeable paint strokes and the use of good paint colors, his work looks mostly untouched with age, 500 years later. In this painting you can see Van Eyck captured every detail in his work even down to the texture of the trees in the background. I think that this shows of what a talented artist he was for his time. Everywhere you look in the painting it was well thought out and because of this you know that he cared about his work and people recognized him for that. I find this piece so interesting because I feel like it's so advanced for him time period. The amount of detail he put into his paintings are astonishing for the fact that he made everything himself, down to the paint colors and the brush used to create his art works. Jan Van Eyck showed correct proportions and showed the outside world in the background, this used the idea of Scientific Naturalism in this painting.