Alice Y. Chang1 Reading Jan van Eycks Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife

Alice Y. Chang 1

Reading Jan van Eyck’s Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and

His Wife

閱讀范艾克的名畫《阿諾菲尼的婚禮》

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Section One: 18:00-19:00

1. 介紹范艾克《阿諾菲尼的婚禮》相關背景

2. 主題討論 the concepts of photographic realism

3. 報告 (1): 觀點與角度、科學與藝術、閱讀與繪畫。 ( 物治系 )

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Section Two: 19:10-21:00

同學報告與討論： 1. 學生英詩作品朗誦 2. 報告 (2): 透視法與眼鏡簡史。 ( 職治系 ) 3.  報告 (3): 繪畫技巧與 3-D 視覺效果（資管系）

4.  報告 (4): 解剖學與文藝復興時期 ( 職治系 )

討論。

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outline

1. Problematic2. About Jan van Eyck3. Details of Portrait of Giovanni Arnolf

ini and His Wife4. Reading materials from Scientific A

merican5. The Renaissance Episteme6. Students’ Presentation

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Problematic

The formation of the Renaissance Episteme?

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The turning point

The grand trajectory of Western painting, we see something very interesting taking place

at the dawn of the Renaissance

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1425: before and afterBefore rough 1425, most images

were rather stylized, even schematic, but afterward we see paintings that have an almost photographic realism.

Ideal world real world

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For instance,

Jan van Eyck’s Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife

Three-dimensionality, presence, individuality and psychological depth

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What happened?

For the first time, we find portraits that really look like us!

How can we explain such a paradigmatic shift in paintings?

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Jan van Eyck

1. Flemish painter (b. before 1395, Maaseik, d. 1441, Bruges)

2. Biography: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/eyck

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Jan van Eyck. . .

Is the greatest artist of the early Netherlands school.

Had the outstanding skill as an oil painter

Invented the medium to allow for the preservation of the colors

built up layers of transparent glazes, captured objects in the minutest detail

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Glaze

a transparent or translucent color applied to modify the effect of a painted surface

a smooth glossy or lustrous surface or finish

a glassy film

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luminous clarity

He had an eye almost miraculously responsive to every detail or his world, not just in that he saw it, but that he understood its value.

he saw the most ordinary things with a wonderful sharpness and a great sense of their awesome beauty.

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A Turning Point

From the late medieval arts (the Gothic arts) to the early Renaissance Arts/ Late Gothic and The Early Renaissance

Geographically, the Southern Europe (Italy) was going to take the place of artistic center.

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History of arts

Medieval arts Renaissance Arts

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A comparative study

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The Gothic Style

pointed arch

vault rib

flying buttress

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International Gothic style

Illuminated manuscript in the Middle Ages

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Light and shadow

The Middle Ages: Divine light and intellectual light

The Renaissance: The corporeal light (the real world)

God-centered world human-centered world

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Paintings by Jan van Eyck

An analysis of his style

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The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin 1433-34 (170 Kb); Wood, 66 x 62 cm (26 x 24 1/2 in); Musee du Louvre, Paris

Alice Y. Chang 23The Ghent alarpiece

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Adoration of the Lamb detail: bottom half of panel depicting angelic musicians, 1432 (30 Kb); Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent

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Crucifixion1420-25Oil on wood transferred to canvas, 56,5 x 19,5 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Last Judgment1420-25Oil on wood transferred to canvas, 56,5 x 19,5 cmMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Stigmatization of St Francis 1428-29

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A New Realism

fidelity in art and literature to nature or to real life and to accurate representation without idealizationPhoto-realism in painting characterized by extremely meticulous depiction of detail

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Fidelity

when you copy the detail and quality of an original, such as a picture, sound or story exactly:

accuracy in describing or reporting facts or details

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Portrait of Cardinal Albergati painting media

c. 1435Silverpoint, 212 x 180 mmKupferstichkabinett, Dresden

1431-32Oil on wood, 34,1 x 27,3 cmKunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

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Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife

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Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfinic. 1435Oil on panel29 x 20 cmStaatliche Museen, Gemaeldegale

rie-Dahlem, Berlin

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Detailed analysis

http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth214_folder/Van_Eyck/Arnolfini.html

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More notes/ conflicting viewpointsWedding? This work is not

intended as a record of their wedding./ As today, marriages in 15th-century Flanders could take place privately rather than in church.

Pregnant? His wife is not pregnant, as is often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in the contemporary fashion.

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“Jan van Eyck was here 1434”The ornate Latin signature tra

nslates as 'Jan van Eyck was here 1434'.

The similarity to modern graffiti is not accidental.

Van Eyck often inscribed his pictures in a witty way.

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What is inside the mirror?

The mirror reflects two figures in the doorway. One may be the painter himself. Arnolfini raises his right hand as he faces them, perhaps as a greeting.

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Reading

Stork, David G. “Optics and Realism in Renaissance Art.”

Scientific American (December 2004): 77-83.

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at the dawn of the Renaissance.

When we consider the grand trajectory of Western painting, we see something very interesting taking place at the dawn of the Renaissance.

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Schematic style photographic realism

Before roughly 1425, most images were rather stylized, even schematic, but afterward we see paintings that have an almost photographic realism.

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Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His WifeThree dimensionality PresenceIndividuality and

psychological depth“Portraits really look like

us!”

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New Art/ ars novaDavid Hockey’s bold and

controversial theory:Artist used lenses and mirror to

project images onto canvases or similar surfaces and then trace and paint over the results.

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Photographic realism

David Stork v.s. David Hockey

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Photographical realism?

Literally, HockeyMetaphorically, Stork

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David Hockney’s Theory

Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of Old Masters

Mirror projection/ camera obscura

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camera obscura

Etymology: New Latin, literally, dark chamber

a darkened enclosure having an aperture usually provided with a lens through which light from external objects enters to form an image of the objects on the opposite surface

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Camera obscura phtographic cameraA traditional lens-based camera ob

scura is a precursor of the modern photographic camera, but without film.

Mirror-based obscura at the time of van Eyke would have be the most sophisticated optical system!!!

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Stork’s experiments

Mirror and projections

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Making a Concave Mirror Using 15th Century Technology

http://www.optics.arizona.edu/ssd/concave.html

David Stork: a different perspectiveArts

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Optics and realism

The History of Mirrors, Concaves, and Concaves

Euclidean Geometry Projective Geometry Analytical Geometry

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Too “photographically?”

His painting is photographically capturing the real world.

Literal or metaphorical meanings?

神似與形似

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Stork’s conclusion

A skillful artist does not need projections to achieve good perspective!

A constellation of reasons to explain the new realism!

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Why? The technological factors

Flat tempora painting of medieval art oil painting

Linear perspectiveMathematical system/ projec

tive geometry anatomy

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Cultural and economical factors

Secularism or humanismThe increase in patronage

Growing prevalence of spectacles

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Renaissance Episteme

A brief introduction

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The Turning Point

In 1962, Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Rev

olution the concept of "paradigm shift" (p.10).

Michel Foucault episteme

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Raphael (1483-1520)The School of Athens

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Renaissance Art and Mathematical Perspective

Early Attempts to Depict the Real World in Art

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Rembrandt painted his famous "Anatomical Lecture“

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The Interaction of Artists and Scientists in the RenaissanceApplications of the Applications of the

Method of Perspective in Method of Perspective in Renaissance ArtRenaissance Art

LEONARDO: ENAISSANCE LEONARDO: ENAISSANCE POLYMATHPOLYMATH

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Leonardo da Vinci, the man of science

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Lady with an Lady with an ErmineErmine

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The Mona Lisa

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The Art of Renaissance Science:

Galileo and Perspective

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Cartesian Coordinates

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Middle Ages the Renaissance

The age of faith the age of reasonGod-centered man-centeredThe age of wonder the age of

scienceC.S. Lewis: the bookish world the

rational worldM. Foucault: the European ration from

the Renaissance to our own age

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The Ambassadors

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Satire on False PerspectiveHOGARTH, WILLIAM

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Escher, Relativity

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Question

What led to the increase in realism in Renaissance painting around 1425, for which Jan van Eyck is perhaps the best representative?

students’ response oral reports

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Next Part

Students’ Oral Presentation