Smarthistory with Flemish Master Jan van Eyck

Groeningemuseum (c) Musea Brugge

Jan van Eyck, The Virgin and Child with Canon Joris van der Paele

Together with Smarthistory, an American not-for-profit organization for the study of art history, and the Center for Netherlandish Art at Museum of Fine Arts Boston, we are bringing a series of video conversations with curators on important Flemish paintings by artists such as Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling, Peter Paul Rubens, and James Ensor.

In this video Dr. Anna Koopstra, Curator of Early Netherlandish Painting at Musea Brugge and Dr. Beth Harris discuss the artwork ‘The Virgin and Child with Canon Joris van der Paele’, 1436, by Flemish Master Jan van Eyck (1390-1441).

Van Eyck was a leading light amongst the Flemish Primitives, a term formerly used to refer to the painters active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. He won international renown even in his own lifetime. Van Eyck’s paintings featured an unprecedented degree of realism. Using sophisticated oil painting techniques, he created accurate representations of reality.

Interested in seeing this masterpiece by Van Eyck up close and personal and meet Margaret van Eyck? Make sure to visit the Groeningemuseum on your next trip to Bruges! His magnum opus, ‘The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,’ can be admired in Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent.  

Jan van Eyck in Situ

Ghent Altarpiece Lam Gods 1 © Art in Flanders, foto Cedric Verhelst

Also interesting

De Intrige van James Ensor zaalfoto
What’s the story behind the masked faces and did Ensor really find inspiration in a work by Peter Paul Rubens? Discover more in this video about ‘The Intrigue’.

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