This is London November 2026 - Flipbook - Page 20
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Jan van Eyck. Portrait of Margaret van
Eyck. 41.5 x 35cm (including original
frame) © Municipal Museums Bruges,
Groeningemuseum.
Photo: The National Gallery, London
VAN EYCK PORTRAITS AT THE
NATIONAL GALLERY
The first-ever exhibition of the
portraits of the Netherlandish painter
Jan van Eyck (active 1422–1441), will
open at the National Gallery this winter.
Bringing together for the first time, from
across Europe, all ten of the artist’s
portraits, Van Eyck: The Portraits
(21 November – 11 April) will show
about half of the twenty or so surviving
autograph pictures by one of the
supreme figures of the Northern
Renaissance.
The nine painted portraits will be
joined by the exceptional loan of van
Eyck’s only surviving drawing, the
Portrait of an Elderly Man (about 1438,
silverpoint and goldpoint on prepared
paper, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen Dresden). This is an
astounding drawing, with a dense
network of strokes to sculpt the sitter’s
face and astonishingly precise colour
notations. As the only certain
preparatory study for any Netherlandish
painting of the period, it provides a
unique window into van Eyck’s process
of creation. It is also the earliest material
record of a formal sitting to survive,
opening a new chapter in the history of
portraiture. It will be reunited for only
the second time ever with the painting it
inspired: van Eyck’s Portrait of an Elderly
Man (A Scholar?) (1438(?), oil on wood,
Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna,
Picture Gallery).
Three other drawings will be included
in the exhibition. The Portrait of a Young
Woman (about 1435–40, the British
Museum) by the artist’s close
contemporary Rogier van der Weyden was
probably made in response to van Eyck’s
work. Two further drawings, made by
artists working in van Eyck’s circle or
Jan van Eyck. Portrait of Baudoin de
Lannoy, about 1435–40. Oil on wood
26.6 × 19.5 cm. Gemäldegalerie,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Inv. 525G)
Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu
Berlin / Christoph Schmidt; Public
Domain Mark 1.0.
following in the traditions he established,
will show the enduring influence he had
on the conception and creation of portraits
and will allow visitors to compare the
technical skills of some of the artists
working at the time.
Other exceptional reunions will see
the Gallery’s own popular and enigmatic
Arnolfini Portrait (1434), the most
visited painting page on its website,
displayed for the first time ever with a
panel showing the same sitter, the
Portrait of a Man (Giovanni Arnolfini?)
(about 1435–38, Gemäldegalerie,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin). That van
Eyck portrayed the same man twice,
something unprecedented for the time
aside from rulers, suggests a particular
bond between artist and subject.
Van Eyck’s newly conserved Portrait
of a Man (Self Portrait?) (1433, the
National Gallery) will be shown
alongside the likeness of the painter’s
wife Margaret (1439, Musea
Brugge/Musea Bruges). This is the first
dated identifiable portrait of a woman
who was not a member of the
aristocracy. It is a milestone in European
portraiture that captures the moment
when the genre moved away from
dynastic purposes to embrace a wider
range of society: successful craftsmen,
the artist’s relatives and his friends. One
of these friends was probably the
goldsmith Jan de Leeuw (1436,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna,
Picture Gallery) who makes eye-contact
with the viewer – another effect that van
Eyck seems to have pioneered.
Situated in Trafalgar Square, the
National Gallery houses one of the
world’s finest collections of Western
European paintings. For further
information and to book tickets, visit
www.nationalgallery.co.uk
T H I S I S L O N D O N M A G A Z I N E • T H I S I S L O N D O N O N L I N E • w w w. t i l . c o m • @ t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g
