Eyck, Hubert van, 1366-1426; Eyck, Jan van, 1390-1440
The subject of this painting has only within recent months been
identified as the father of Margaret van Eyck, with whose portrait,
reproduced in Plate VII., it should be compared. The framework bears
along the upper border the Painter's simple motto "Als ich can," and at
the foot "Iohannes de Eyck me fecit anno 1433, 21 Octobris." No. 222 in
the National Gallery, London. See page 76.]
The closed shutters display, filling in the full width of the middle
zone, the scene of the Annunciation. The Ethyrean Sibyl and the Cumaean
Sibyl occupy the demi-lunettes above the middle portion of the Virgin's
chamber, the lunettes above the lateral divisions showing half-length
figures of the Prophets Zacharias and Micheas. Of the four compartments
of the lower zone the inner ones contain statues in grisaille of St.
John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the outer ones figures in
the attitude of prayer, eminently life-like, of the donor, Jodoc Vyt,
and his wife, Elizabeth Borluut. Jodoc was the second son of Sir
Nicholas Vyt, Receiver of Flanders,--a wealthy citizen who owned the
lordships of Pamele and Leedberghe, besides several mansions in Ghent,
of which city he was burgomaster in 1433-34, after filling various minor
municipal offices: by no means a handsome type, though manifestly a
capable and kindly burgher, well-set, with a somewhat low forehead,
small grey eyes, and a large mouth with broad under-lip; neither do the
short-cropped hair and growing baldness or the three warts on upper-lip,
nose, and forehead make for attractiveness. In respect of looks his wife
is the better favoured, striking the beholder as an indulgent lady, with
much of the homely dignity and serenity of the finer type of Flemish
matron.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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