Fox 1 Lecture 4
Art History 1A03
Wednesday May 15,2013
Oil Paintings
RECALL:
Tempera Painting: pigments mixed with egg yolk
Dies really fast, hard to make changes
Light does not penetrate it – opaque, matte surface, requires varnish for sheen
Oil Painting: pigments suspended in linseed or walnut oil
Light penetrates it- create inner glow by painting thin layers called glazes
Dries slowly easy to make changes
Workshop of the Master of Flemalle, Merode Altarpiece (Triptych of the Annunciation)
(open) c. 1425-1430s. Oil on wood panel
Attention to surface detail and how light reflects off of different surfaces
Lilies = a reference to Mary’s virginity
Towel = a prayer shawl
Gods divinity has manifested
Window is not broken = resembles Mary’s virginity
Side panels: patrons (pay for painting) & Joseph making wine = refers to the body and
blood of Christ (symbolic)
Intuitive perspective
Atmospheric perspective (scenes out window) Fox 2 Lecture 4
Jan & Hubert van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece (open) Adoration of the Mystical Lamb, c. 1432.
Oil on wood panel
Reference to Jesus and the resurrection
Atmospheric perspective
Naturalism in nude figures of Adam & Eve
One panel resembles monochrome painting (grey) = grisaille
Patrons in some panels
Jan van Eyck, Double Portrait of a Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, c. 1434, oil on wood
panel
Detail in mirror
Artists signature and message on wall (“van Eyck was here”)
Rogier van der Weyden, St. Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child, c. 1435-1440, oil and
tempura on wood panel
Maybe a self portrait
Linear perspective Fox 3 Lecture 4
Hans Memling, Diptych of Maarten van Niuwenhove, c. 1437, oil on wood panel
Another mirror reflecting 2 figures from behind
Painted fabric and shadow onto the frame to give impression that objects are
coming into psychical space of viewer
Trick of the eye= Trompe-l’oeil
Linear Perspective: mathematical system in with orthogonals coverage on a vanishing
point, addressing a single viewer standing at a single, fixed vantage point
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