Style and Technique
Although art historians have for disputed which passages were executed by Hubert or Jan van Eyck, it is generally accepted that the majority was completed by Jan. Although Jan was skilled as a miniaturist, and there is much evidence of that ability in the detail in the Ghent Altarpiece, the polyptych is an exception in the paintings generally attributed to him. It differes in a number of significant aspects, not least its scale. It is the only work thought to be of his hand that was intended for public worship and dispay, it is his only known non-secular commission, and is unusual in being, apart from his Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych, a painting inextricably linked to Christian doctrine.
Van Eyck pays as much attention to the beauty of earthly things as to the religious themes. The clothes and jewels, the fountain, nature surrounding the scene, the churches and landscape in the background- everything is painted with remarkable detail. The landscape shows an enormous richness in vegetation, acutely observed, and much of it non-European.
Lighting plays a central role and is one of the major innovations of the polyptych. The panels are infused with complex light effects and subtle plays of shadow, the rendering of which was achieved through the handling of new technique of oil paint as well as transparent glazes. The figures are mostly cast with short, diagonal shadows which serve to, in the words of art-historial Till-Holger Borchert, "not only heighten their spatial presence, but also tell us that the primary light source is located beyond the picture itself." In the Annunciation panel of the outer panels, the shadows are depicted in a manner that implies that they emanate from the daylight within the chapel in which they are housed.
A further innovation can be found in the detailing of surface textures, espically reflections and refractions. This is best seen in details such as the effect of the fall of light on the armour in the Knights of Christ panel, and the ripple of the water in the Fountain of life from the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
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