Ghent Altarpiece - Commission

Commission

Jodocus (known as Joos) Vijd was a wealthy merchant and came from an family that had been influential in Ghent for several generations. His father, Vijd Nikolaas (d. 1412), had been close to Louis II of Flanders. By the end of his life Jodocus had become one of the most senior and politically powerful city-dwellers in Ghent. He was titled Seigneur of Pamele and Ledeberg, and in a difficult and rebellious political climate, became one of the Duke of Burgundy Philip the Good's most trusted local councilmen. Around 1398 Jodocus married Lysbette Borluut, who also came from a rich and established city family. The couple died childless and the endowment to the cathedral and the commissioning of such an unprecedentedly monumental altarpiece were intended for a number of reasons, chiefly to secure a legacy. But, according to Borchert, also to "secure his position in the hereafter", and important to such an ambitious politician, demonstrate his social prestige, revealing, Borchert belives, a desire to "show off and ... outstrip by far all other endowments to St John's, if not each and every other church and monastery in Ghent."

Ghent prospered through the early 1400s, and a number of local councillors began to feel a sense of independence from the Burgundian duke's rule. The duke was experienceing financial difficulties in the early 1430s, and made strong demands on the city to provide revenue, a burden many of city councillors felt were unreasonable and could ill afford, financially or politically. The situation was tense, and because there was division within the council over the burden, this led to a mistrust that meant membership was dangerous and precarious. During a power play in 1432 a number of councillors were murdered, seemingly for their loyalty to Philip. The tension came to a head in a 1433 revolt which ended with the beheading of the councillors who had acted as ringleaders. Throughout all this Vijds stayed loyal to Philip. His being positioned as warden at St. Johns reflects this, the cathedral was the favoured site in Ghent by the Burgundians for official ceremony. The day of the altarpiece's consecration, 6 May 1432, Philip's and Isabella of Portugal's son was baptised there, a strong indicator of Vijd's status at the time.

Vijd acted as warden (kerkmeester) of the St Bavo Church, and between 1410 and 1420 not only financed the construction the chapel's bay, but endowed a new chapel off the choir which took his family name and was attended regularly to hold masses in his and his ancestors' memory. It was for this new chapel that he commissioned Hubert van Eyck to create an unusually large and complex polyptych altarpiece. He was recorded as donor on an inscription on the original, now lost, frame.

The chapel for which the painting was commissioned was dedicated to St. John the Baptist whose traditional attributes is the Lamb of God, a symbol of Christ. As with the other panels, Vijd and his wife are lit by light eminating from the right.