Some Remarks on Drawings by Jan Van Eyck, his Workshop and his Followers Till-Holger Borchert Director of the Municipal Museum of Bruges About twenty panels by Jan van Eyck have survived from the period of c. 1430 until his death in 1441, but not all of them have been universally accepted1. Further to his core œuvre, a number of paintings survive made by members of the workshop of Jan van Eyck, either during his lifetime or roughly within a decade ater the master’s death2. It also has been suggested that works by anonymous followers may relect lost compositions by Van Eyck, even though their existence could not always be corroborated by archival or other documents3. he investigation of lost works by Van Eyck in the context of Kopienkritik has oten focused on drawings4. Drawings that have been associated with Van Eyck can be divided into diferent categories5. he irst category is limited to authentic drawings by the artist; the second one consists of drawings that were produced within the workshop either during the master’s lifetime or ater his death. Copies ater Eyckian motives or compositions are iled in the third group and can be divided between drawings by contemporaries and those by later followers6. A last category consists of drawings that were formerly attributed or associated with Van Eyck but have since been doubted. While the four categories are not equally important in regard to our understanding of Jan van Eyck, they represent equally major challenges both in terms of attribution and dating as well as in regard to their original function, purpose, and survival. A single drawing is universally accepted as an autograph work by Jan van Eyck: he portrait drawing of an old man made in metal-point on a sheet of prepared paper has entered the 1 2 3 4 5 6 Elisabeth Dhanens, Van Eyck, Antwerp, Tabard Press, 1980, p. 374-391; Till-Holger Borchert, Van Eyck, Cologne, Taschen, 2007, p. 17-67. E. Dhanens, Van Eyck, op. cit., p. 346-373; T.-H. Borchert, op. cit., p. 69-91; see also Stephan Kemperdick and Friso Lammertse (eds), he Road to Van Eyck, exhibition cat., (Rotterdam, 2012-2013), Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 2012, p. 105-108. E. Dhanens, op. cit., p. 124-174, 206-211, 252-253, 293, 307, 310-315. Friedrich Winkler, ‘Verschollene Bilder der Brüder van Eyck’, Jahrbuch der Preußischen Kunstsammlungen, 37, 1916, p. 287-301; Id, ‘Jan van Eycks Madonna von Ypern’, Pantheon, 4, 1929, p. 490-494; Id, ‘Einige Ergebnisse der Van Eyckforschung’, in Actes du xviième Congrès international d’histoire de l’art (Amsterdam 1952), Den Haag 1955, p. 237-246; Id, ‘Ein unbeachtetes eyckisches Werk’, in Edwin Redslob zum 70. Geburtstag. Eine Festgabe, G. Rohde (ed.), Berlin 1955, p. 90-95; Id, ‘Die Vermählung der Hl. Katharina im Germanischen Nationalmuseum’, Anzeiger des Gemanischen Nationalmuseums, 1964, p. 24-31; Otto Pächt, ‘Review of Jan van Eyck / Ludwig Baldass’, Burlington Magazine, 95, 1953, p. 249-253; Id. ‘Review of Early Netherlandish Painting / Erwin Panofsky’, Burlington Magazine, 98, 1956, p. 110-116, 266-279; Joshua Bruyn, Van Eyck Problemen, Utrecht, Kunsthistorisch Instituut der Rijksuniversiteit, 1957. See also Stephanie Buck, ‘An Approach to Looking at Eyckian Drawings’, in Investigating Jan van Eyck, eds Susan Foister, Sue Jones and Delphine Cool (eds), Turnhout, Brepols, 2000, p. 183-195. Two drawings that copy Van Eyck’s Ypres-Madonna belong to the irst division of this group: Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Inv. HZ 279/645, 134 × 102 mm; Vienna, Albertina, Inv. 4841, 278 × 180 mm; see Till-Holger Borchert (ed), Van Eyck tot Dürer: de Vlaamse primitieven & Centraal-Europa 1430-1530, exhibition cat. (Bruges, 2010), Tielt, Lannoo, 2010, p. 153-155, Nr. 27-28; see also Klaus Albrecht Schröder and Christof Metzger (eds), Bosch, Brueghel, Rubens, Rembrandt: Masterpieces of the Albertina, exhibition cat. (Vienna-Stuttgart, 2013), Ostildern, Hatje Cantz, 2013, p. 24. 73 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 73 24/11/16 13:49 TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT Kupferstich-Kabinett of Dresden sometime before 17647. With its meticulous descriptive notes that address aspects of the sitter’s appearance and skin-color it is as remarkable as unique a drawing. By sheer coincidence it can be linked to an extant portrait panel in Vienna8. Archduke Leopold bought the painting in Brussels from the Antwerp collector Peter Stevens. Stevens annotated his copy of Van Mander’s Lives with information of artists and their works that he had encountered. In regard to Van Eyck’s portrait he carefully recorded that it was made by Jan van Eyck in 1438 and depicted the Cardinal of Santa Croce who represented the Pope at the Peace conference at Arras in 14359. he unusually detailed note of Stevens indicates that he must have had access to information on or attached to the original frame now lost. Steven’s account is not only the base for the sitter’s identiication as Cardinal Nicoló Albergati but also the only source that testiies to Van Eyck’s authorship of both the painting and the drawing10. Arguably, Van Eyck drew the sitter’s likeness from real life and subsequently produced a remarkably detailed drawing that was used by the master and members of his workshop to produce the painted portrait. At least two diferent metal-points were used for clarifying and correcting contours and carefully modeling the sitter’s physiognomy by means of subtle hatching11. Although a few small changes suggest that the drawing was Van Eyck’s irst sketch of the sitter it can’t be ruled out that it was a detailed model drawing – based on a irst sketch – that was made with the speciic intention to aid the production of the painted portrait. he use of diferent metal-points that relate to distinct stages of the drawing process could provide an argument for the hypothesis that it was more than just a preliminary sketch. he drawing displays a distinct pictorial approach in its almost tonal modeling and in the remarkable addition of several indications of an indiferent background, the sole purpose of which were, unmistakably, to create a sense of space and depth to the drawn likeness. It is noteworthy that a golden metal-point was used for a last reinforcement of contours and placement lines as well as for the meticulous inscription that were only added to the drawing in the inal stage12. he extraordinary qualities of the drawing in Dresden become even more apparent when it is compared to contemporary portrait drawings that have been attributed to Van Eyck. he most intriguing of them is undoubtedly a small drawing of a man in the Louvre (ig. 1). Executed with silverpoint on prepared paper it was attributed to Van Eyck ater it had traditionally 7 8 9 10 11 12 Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatlische Kunstsammlungen Inv. C 775, silver and golden points on whitish prepared paper, 214 × 148 mm, see homas Ketelsen and Uta Neidhardt (eds), Das Geheimnis des Jan van Eyck. Die rühen niederländischen Zeichnungen und Gemälde in Dresden, exhibition cat. (Dresden 2005), München, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2005, p. 61-67. Vienna, Kunsthistorische Museum, Inv. 975, oil on oak, 341 × 273 mm. Noch bij Peeter Stevens een fraey conterfaysel van Jan van Eyck met dato 1438, wesende den Cardinael Canta Croce, die aldoen tot Brugge was gesonden van den Paus om de peys de maecken met Hertoch Filips over syn vaders doot met den dolphin van Franckryck », see Jan Briels, ‘Amator Pictoriae Artis. De Antwerpse kunstverzamelaar Peter Stevens (1590-1665) en zijn Constkamer’, Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 1980, p. 137-226, here: p. 211. On Albergati see Joycelyne G. Dickinson, he Congres of Arras 1435: A Study in Medieval Diplomacy, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1955, p. 78-102, esp. p. 79-86; doubts on the identiication of Albergati are voiced by John Hunter, ‘Who is Jan van Eyck’s “Cardinal Nicolo Albergati” ?’, Art Bulletin, 75, 1993, p. 207-218 and Edwin Hall, ‘he Detroit Saint Jerome in Search of Its Painte’“, Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, 72, 1998, p. 11-37, esp. 23; I will address the identiication in a separate study on the function and creation of the Cardinal’s portrait. homas Ketelsen, Ina Reiche et al., ‘New Information on Jan van Eyck’s portrait drawing in Dresden’, Burlington Magazine, 147, 2005, p. 170-175. For a more detailed discussion, see Till-Holger Borchert, ‘Remarks on the character and function in Jan van Eyck’s underdrawings of portraits: the case of Margaretha van Eyck’, in Van Eyck Studies, Symposium xviii for the Study of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting (Brussels, 2012), eds Christina Currie and Bart Fransen, Brussels (in press). 74 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 74 24/11/16 13:49 SOME REMARKS ON DRAWINGS BY JAN VAN EYCK, HIS WORKSHOP AND HIS FOLLOWERS Fig. 1. Portrait of a man, silver point on cream prepared paper, Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des arts graphiques, Inv. 20653 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)/ Jean-Gilles Berizzi. been associated with Jean Fouquet13. he portrait is loosely drawn and in the modeling of the sitter’s physiognomy reveals the hand of a skilled draughtsman. However, the manner in which both the sitter’s neck and collar are rendered is odd and betrays the limitations of the artist. his detail provides a serious argument against the idea that the drawing may have copied a painting by Van Eyck since a skilled copyist would have avoided this oddity14. he skilled and almost painterly modeling of the metal-point in the Paris-drawing replaces the subtle efects of light and shade that Van Eyck conveyed in his Dresden-drawing in a completely diferent manner. he diference in execution and the suspicious absence of any indications of space that are typical features of Van Eyck’s portraits demonstrate that the drawing is not by the master15. 13 14 15 Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des arts graphiques, Inv. 20653, silverpoint on cream prepared paper, 95 × 120 mm; as Van Eyck: Max J. Friedländer, Die Altniederländische Malerei, I, Berlin, P. Cassirer, 924, p. 125 and Arthur E. Popham, Drawings of the Early Flemish School, London, Benn, 1926, Nr. 7; see also Frits Lugt, Musée du Louvre: Inventaire général des Dessins des écoles du Nord, maître des anciens Pays-Bas nés avant 1550, Paris, Palais du Louvre, 1968, Nr. 6. William H. J. Weale, he Van Eycks and their art, London, Lane, 1912, p. 215, Nr. X, and Ludwig von Baldass, Van Eyck, London, Phaidon Press, 1956, p. 272, Nr. 50. Attributed to Jan van Eyck by Albert Châtelet, Hubert et Jan van Eyck: créateurs de l’Agneau Mystique, Dijon, Faton, 2011, p. 283, Nr. IX/9. 75 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 75 24/11/16 13:49 TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT Fig. 2. Portrait of a man, silverpoint on cream prepared paper, London, British Museum, Inv. 1985, 0915.998 © British Museum. he same is true for a portrait drawing in the British Museum that is also executed with a silverpoint on prepared paper (ig. 2)16. It depicts the portrait of an unknown man wearing a richly decorated chaperon who is represented almost frontally with head and shoulders. he sitter’s physiognomy is carefully modeled with subtle hatches along the contours of the face whereas the folds of the coat are indicated by simple outlines that have been irregularly worked up in a second drawing stage. Several aspects of the sheet are without parallel in 15th century Northern drawings, such as the monumental bust-like appearance of the sitter and the radiant hatches in the background. he drawing, tentatively attributed by Friedländer to Jan van Eyck as an early work17, is highly unusual with its explicit contrast between the sitter’s likeness and the background; equally uncommon is the prominent treatment of the extravagant Chaperon which outshines the 16 17 London, British Museum, Inv. 1985, 0915.998, silverpoint on cream prepared paper, 214 × 143 mm; see Popham, Drawings…, op. cit., Nr. 9; Id, Catalogue of Drawings by Dutch and Flemish Artists preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Vol. 5, Dutch and Flemish Drawings of the XV and XVI Centuries, London, 1932, p. 17, Nr. 1; John Oliver Hand, ‘Masters of Silverpoint in the Netherlandish Renaissance’, in Drawing in Silver and Gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns, exhibition cat. (Washington-London, 2015). eds Stacey Shell and Hugo Chapman, Princeton, University Press, 2015, p. 29. M. Friedländer Die Altniederländische…, op. cit., p. 125. 76 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 76 24/11/16 13:49 SOME REMARKS ON DRAWINGS BY JAN VAN EYCK, HIS WORKSHOP AND HIS FOLLOWERS man’s physiognomy and can be linked to courtly fashion in the irst decades of the 15th century18. he point of view selected by the draughtsman and his decision to depict an unusually large part of the sitter’s upper body creates monumentality but is also without parallel in 15th century portraiture from the Low Countries and raises concerns about the drawing’s source: the inconsistent placement of the eyes and the somewhat displaced nose may suggest that the draughtsman copied a sculpted eigy rather than a painted portrait19. Because of the elongated face and its subtle modeling as well as the dense hatching in the background, the London drawing has sometimes been compared with the silverpoint drawing of Jacoba of Bavaria in Frankfurt that relates to a lost painting by Jan van Eyck’s brother Lambert from 143220. While, at irst impression, there are Fig. 3. Calvary, gold and silver points, black ink on analogies between both drawings in terms of prepared paper, © Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the modeling of the face and the application Rotterdam. (see pl. 8) of loose parallel hatching in the background, a more close comparison reveals a very diferent approach: he absence of the white-line efect in the London drawing, the diferent treatment of the eyes and the unusually short parallel hatches that are used in London to evoke shadow, clearly reveal two diferent hands21. While it seems implausible to link the London portrait to Van Eyck or his workshop, both drawings may have been produced at about the same period, between c. 1450 and 1460, but relect earlier representations. Whereas the authorship of the two portrait drawings can be examined and evaluated in relation to Van Eyck’s authentic drawing in Dresden, the latter doesn’t lend itself easily to a critical assessment of non-portrait drawings such as the recently rediscovered Eyckian Calvary (ig. 3)22. 18 19 20 21 22 Anne H. Van Buren, Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands 1325-1515, New York, he Pierpont Morgan Museum, 2011, p. 122-133. he sharp contours of the eyes can be compared to portraits by Van der Weyden’s workshop, whereas the ma’s appearance, whom Popham identiied with Philip the Good, bears some similarities with representations John iv of Brabant, see Fritz Koreny (ed), Altniederländische Zeichnungen von Van Eyck bis Bosch, exhibition cat. (Antwerpen, 2002), Antwerpen, Rubenhuis, 2002, p. 96-100. Frankfurt, Städel – Graphische Sammlung Inv. 726, silverpoint on prepared paper, 163 × 134 mm, see F. Koreny (ed), Altniederländische…, exh. cat., Nr. 8; see also see Till-Holger Borchert, ‘Form and Function of Van Eyck’s Portraiture’, in Vision and Material: Interaction between Art and Science in Jan van Eyck’s time, eds Marc De Mey et al, Brussels 2012, p. 213-232, here p. 217. Both drawings were considered to be by the same artist, see Stephanie Buck, Die niederländischen Zeichnungen des 15. Jahrhunderts im Berliner Kupferstichkabinett, Turnhout, Brepols, 2001, p. 86. Formerly in private collection, gold and silver points, black ink on prepared paper, 254 × 187 mm, see Guido Messling, in he Road to Van Eyck, exh. cat., p. 302-304, Nr. 86. In order to avoid confusion, I call the drawing Calvary and the related painting in New York Cruciixion, although both depict the same scene. A more detailed study of the drawing in the context of Van Eyck’s drawing is given in contributions by me and others in the volume ‘An Eyckian Cruciixion Explored: 10 Essays on a Drawing’, Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen 2013. 77 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 77 24/11/16 13:49 TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT Fig. 4. Jan van Eyck or Follower, Cruciixion, let wing of a diptych, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 33.92a © Metropolitan Museum of Art. 78 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 78 24/11/16 13:49 SOME REMARKS ON DRAWINGS BY JAN VAN EYCK, HIS WORKSHOP AND HIS FOLLOWERS he Calvary is a highly unusual drawing. Its close relationship with the Cruciixion of the Eyckian New York Diptych (ig. 4)23, its extraordinary character and, inally, the fact that technical analysis showed that gold- and silverpoints were used simultaneously links the drawing to Van Eyck and his workshop regardless of its attribution24. he detailed approach towards composition and iconography is unparalleled in Northern drawings of the 15th and early 16th centuries and raises questions regarding the drawing’s original function. Was it meant to be a preliminary design or vidimus-drawing that preceded the painting stage or did it meticulously copy an existing composition? A close comparison between the Calvary-drawing and the New York Cruciixion provides the key to understanding their relationship25. Several motives from the painting appear in an altered or even reversed manner on the drawing, where they are combined in a diferent manner. Since the drawing uses the same repertoire and motives than the New York Cruciixion, it seems to apply a similar method of reusing motives that can be recognized in the Eyckian miniatures of the Turin-Milan Hours and in several paintings produced by the Van Eyck workshop26. It is diicult to draw conclusions about the drawing’s attribution. While it clearly represents an invention of Van Eyck it doesn’t mean that the drawing was actually made in Van Eyck’s workshop, let alone by himself. he comparison with the master’s drawing in Dresden doesn’t help to establish a irm attribution. he fundamental diferences between both drawings in terms of scale, decorum and function present serious obstacles for the argument. he same is true for Van Eyck’s Saint Barbara of 143727. While the igure scale is comparable between the two works, the function of Van Eyck’s underdrawing difers fundamentally from the Calvary. As I have argued elsewhere in detail, the comparison between both works reveals a very diferent pictorial attitude and makes an attribution the drawing to Jan van Eyck himself highly improbable. he drawing’s origin, on the other hand, in Jan’s workshop can’t entirely be dismissed28. his brings us to the intended function of the drawing that shows traces of incisions along the main contours of the image. hey were used to make a tracing of the Calvary and to 23 24 25 26 27 28 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 33.92a/b, 56.5 × 19.7 cm (each wing), see Keith Christiansen and Maryan Ainsworth (eds), From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Paintings the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, he Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998, p. 86-89; Maryan Ainsworth now considers the two panels belonged to a triptych which she dates late in Van Eyck’s career. See Eadem, ‘Revelations Regarding the Cruciixion and Last Judgment by Jan van Eyck and Workshop,’ in Van Eyck Studies, Symposium xviii…, op. cit. (in press). See also Susan Frances Jones, ‘Jan van Eyck and Spain’, Boletín del Museo del Prado, 50, 2014, p. 30-49, here p. 37-38. For a diferent opinion, see Catherine Reynolds, ‘he King of Painters’, in Investigating Jan van Eyck, op. cit., p. 7-12 and Carol Herselle Krinsky, ‘Why Hand G of the Turin-Milan Hours was not Jan van Eyck’, Artibus et Historiae, 71, 2014, p. 2-30. See Guido Messling in he Road to Van Eyck, exh. cat., p. 303-304; an attribution to Van Eyck is suggested by Arie Wallert, ‘Function and Meaning of a Metalpoint Drawing by Jan van Eyck’, Art Matters, 5, 2013, p. 62-78. While the attribution and dating of the so-called New York Diptych has been subject of much debate, the hypothesis of a late dating towards the very end of Jan van Eyck’s lifetime explains why the upper part of the Last Judgment was entrusted to an assistant who clearly had been trained as an illuminator. See Stephanie Buck, ‘Petrus Christus’s Berlin Wing and the Metropolitan Museum’s Eyckian Diptych’, in Petrus Christus in Renaissance Bruges: An interdisciplinary approach, Maryan W. Ainsworth (ed.), Turnhout, Brepols, 1995, p. 65-83; see also T.-H. Borchert, Van Eyck, op. cit., p. 77-89, here: 86-89; Maryan Ainsworth’s article on her recent technical indings in regard to the New York panels is forthcoming. T.-H. Borchert, in Van Eyck tot Dürer, exh. cat., p. 150, Nr. 21. Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Inv. 410, panel with original frame, signed and dated on the frame, 41,4 × 27,8 cm, see inally F. Lammertse, in he Road to Van Eyck, exh. cat., p. 300-301, Nr. 85. See Till-Holger Borchert, ‘Some Eyckian drawings and miniatures and the artistic context of the Rotterdam Cruciixion’, in ‘An Eyckian Cruciixion Explored: 10 Essays on a drawing’, Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen 2013, p. 94-107 79 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 79 24/11/16 13:49 TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT duplicate the composition by mechanically29. his was clearly not the drawing’s original purpose since it is much more detailed and the incisions cover mostly outlines: Neither the indication of the surface values of the rocks nor the larger zones of hatching wouldn’t have been part of the transfer process. It seems unlikely that the drawing was produced as a model for reproduction, even though it fulilled precisely this function at some point in his history. he composition recorded in the drawing can be linked to miniatures of the Turin-Milan Hours that were illuminated by members of the workshop of Van Eyck and by later followers who borrowed motives and backgrounds from earlier miniatures30. It therefore doesn’t seems unlikely that the drawing originated in the milieu of manuscript painters who were active in Van Eyck’s workshop and continued with the decorations of the Turin-Milan Hours ater the artist’s death in 144131. he link between the Cruciixion in the Fig. 5. Prayer book of Philip the Good, Paris, Grimani Breviarium and the Cruciixion Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS n. a. fr. 16428, in New York has been noted for a time, f. 83, Cruciixion © Bibliothèque nationale de France. but the miniature is actually based on the composition of the drawing32. It would be convenient if the drawing could be linked directly to the miniature but a number of changes exclude this possibility. Relections of the composition can earlier be found in the so-called Prayerbooks of Philipp the Good and of Charles the Bold33. hey were illuminated by Lieven Van Lathem and contain Cruciixion-miniatures that at least indirectly recur on the Eyckian prototype recorded in the drawing (ig. 5-6). he Cruciixion in the Prayerbook of Philip the Good is more clearly indebted to Van Eyck than the one in the 29 30 31 32 33 A. Wallert, ‘Function and Meaning…’, art. cit., p. 72-73; Guido Messling in he Road to Van Eyck, exh. cat., p. 303-304. he miniatures of the Llangattock-Master display a tendency for duplicating the backgrounds and/or architectural settings that are ultimately derived from Van Eyck’s own miniature, as is the case with the Mass of the Death, see Eberhard König and François Boesplug, Les ‘Très Belles Heures’ du duc Jean de France, duc de Berry, Paris, Éd. du Cerf, 1998, p. 115-116, 118, 217. Jan van Eyck was reimbursed by the Chambre des Comptes in Lille in 1439 for payments to the miniature painter Jehan Creve for the painting and gilding or initials for a manuscript (see W. H. J. Weale, he Van Eycks…, op. cit., p. xxxvii-xxxviii). his payment is the only documentary evidence linking Van Eyck to the production of manuscripts. Is it possible to relate this payment with Van Eycks’s involvement in the TurinMilan Hours that were uninished at the time of his death in 1441 and let to his workshop? Venice, Bibliotheca Marciana, ms. Lat. I. 99, f. 138v; see Guido Messling, in he road to Van Eyck, exh. cat., p. 303-304; De Schryver, 2007, p. 212. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), MS n. a. fr. 16428 (Prayer book of Philip the Good); Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 37 (Prayer book of Charles the Bold); see Antoine de Schryver, he Prayer Book of Charles the Bold: A Study of a Flemish Masterpiece rom the Burgundian Court, Los Angeles, Getty Publications, 2007, passim. 80 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 80 24/11/16 13:49 SOME REMARKS ON DRAWINGS BY JAN VAN EYCK, HIS WORKSHOP AND HIS FOLLOWERS Prayerbook for Charles the Bold, but the impact of the Eyckian source is less substantial here than in the Grimani Breviary34. here can be little doubt that Lieven van Lathem must have had irst-hand experience of works by Jan van Eyck. He seems to have had access to drawings and models from the workshop. he illuminator would have likely had contact with at least some of the miniature-painters that participated in the inal campaign of the Turin-Milan Hours. Other Van Lathem-miniatures, such as the Carrying of the Cross from the Prayerbook of Philipp the Good also betray his knowledge of Eyckian models in the Turin-Milan Hours35. It is important to remember that the Master of Evert van Zoudenbalch also based his miniature of the Cruciixion in the Hours of Jan van Amerongen on the Eyckian Calvary36. De Schryver already suggested that Lieven van Lathem might have borrowed from the Zoudenbalch-Master37 who in turn was clearly inluenced by Van Eyck and Fig. 6. Prayer book of Charles the Bold, Los Angeles, Eyckian followers such as the LlangatockJ. Paul Getty Museum, MS 37, f. 106r, Cruciixion © J. Paul Getty Museum. Master38. How Lieven van Lathem came to know Eyckian models is less signiicant than the simple fact that he had access. And it is entirely in accordance of our understanding of collaboration among late medieval book-illuminators in Flanders, to assume miniature-workshops as prime channels of disseminating patterns and motives and also had a role in the spreading of Eyckian inventions in the Low Countries. he evidence discussed above points to the possibility that the Calvary may have actually been kept – and most probably produced – in entourage of those masters that inished the Turin-Milan hours in the 1450s. hese masters had extended access to model-drawings if not by Van Eyck himself then those produced by his workshop. Ater all, it is in this speciic context 34 35 36 37 38 Paris, BnF, MS n. a. fr. 16428, f. 83 (Prayer book of Philip the Good); Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, MS 37, fol. 106r (Prayer book of Charles the Bold); See A. de Schryver, op. cit., p. 211-214. Paris, BnF MS n. a. fr. 16428, f. 79; See A. de Schryver, op. cit., p. 207-208; he burned miniature from the Turin-Milan Hour, formerly Turin f. 31v, is attributed to a follower of Van Eyck, see E. König, F. Boesplug, Les Très belles Heures…, op. cit., p. 109. Brussels, Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Ms II 7619, f. 55v; see A. de Schryver, op. cit., p. 212; James H. Marrow, Henri L. M. Defoer, he Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, Stuttgart, Belser Verlag, 1989, p. 204-206. A. de Schryver, op. cit., p. 212-213. Ibid., p. 212; the Llangattock Master, sometimes also referred to as Master of Folpard van Amerongen, is a miniature painter who was involved in the completion of the Turin-Milan Hours ater the death of Van Eyck and is considered one of his followers; see Albert Châtelet, Jean van Eyck enlumineur: les Heures de Turin et de Milan-Turin, Strasbourg, Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, 1993, p. 80-84; E. König, F. Boesplug, Les Très belles Heures…, op. cit., p. 263-267; homas Kren, Scott McKendrick (eds), Illuminating the Renaissance: he Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, exhibition cat. (Los Angeles, 2003-London 2004), Los Angeles, Getty Publications, 2003, p. 83-84, 88-89. 81 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 81 24/11/16 13:49 TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT Fig. 7. Coronation of the Virgin, silver point, prepared paper, Vienna, Albertina, Inv. 3030 © Albertina. that we actually encounter exact replicas of Eyckian compositions both in- and outside of the Turin-Milan manuscript39. A similar context can be established for drawing of the Coronation of the Virgin that has been associated with Jan van Eyck (ig. 7)40. he architecture of the celestial throne in the drawing and the gothic baldachin of God he Father in the Prado Fountain of Life are similar. However, the similarity is too generic to establish a direct link between the drawing and this work of an anonymous collaborator of Van Eyck. Once more the miniatures of Van Eyck’s followers in the Turin-Milan-Hours provide a missing link. he architecture in the burned miniature of the God he Father under a baldachin41 is more closely related to either the Fountain of Life and to the drawing; this miniature by the Llangatock-Master seems to relect their common prototype. It seems possible to link the drawing stylistically to one of the Eyckian successors who inished the Turin-Milan-Hours42: he igures and physiognomies of the Virgin, the Angel and God the 39 40 41 42 he Llangattock Master based no less than four of his miniatures in the Turin-Milan Hours on Van Eyck’s Mass of the Death, cf. E. König, F. Boesplug, Les Très belles Heures…, op. cit., p. 115-116, 118, 217. Vienna, Albertina, Inv. 3030, silver point, prepared paper, 280 × 183 mm; J. Bruyn, Van Eyck Problemen…, op. cit., p. 24-28; Otto Pächt, ‘Rezension von Joshua Buryn, Van Eyck Problemen’, Kunstchronik, 12, 1959, p. 256; Volker Herzner, Jan van Eyck und der Genter Altar, Worms, Wernersche Verlagsgesellschat,1995, p. 88-91. E. König, F. Boesplug, Les Très belles Heures…, op. cit., p. 143. he drawing might actually render an important lost composition by Van Eyck that may have indirectly inspired Schongauer’s print of the same subject. he original may have been related to the Rolin-Madonna where the drawing’s motive of the Angel with the Crown above Mary’s head seems to have originated. 82 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 82 24/11/16 13:49 SOME REMARKS ON DRAWINGS BY JAN VAN EYCK, HIS WORKSHOP AND HIS FOLLOWERS Fig. 8. Annunciation, drawing in Liber Amicorum of the Augsburg merchant Philip Hainhofer (1578-1647), Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guel. Extravaganza 210, f. 472 © Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. (see pl. 9) 83 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 83 24/11/16 13:49 TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT Fig. 9. fragment of a detailed architectural of a wooden house (reverse of ig. 8), Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guel. Extravaganza 210, f. 472v © Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. father in drawing of the Coronation of the Virgin are stylistically similar to the Annunciation of the Master of the Llangatock-Hours in the Book of Hours of the same name43. In may prove to be signiicant that – like it the Albergati-drawing and the drawing of the Calvary – the Vienna Coronation of the Virgin uses diferent metal points that can even been seen wit the unaided eye. Given the scarce evidence, conclusions are diicult to draw. However, the drawings of the Calvary and of the Coronation of the Virgin underline the role of those miniature-painters that took over the task of completing the Turin-Milan Hours from Van Eyck’s workshop long ater the master’s death in the dissemination of Van Eyck’s pictorial ideas was clearly more important than has hitherto been realized. A similar context might be established for the drawing of an Eyckian Annunciation (ig. 8) that survives in the extant Liber Amicorum of the Augsburg merchant Philip Hainhofer (1578-1647) who presumably acquired the drawing during his visit to the Low Countries in 1597/844. First attributed to Van Eyck in 191545, the Annunciation is clearly the eldest drawing 43 44 45 Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms Ludwig IX 7 (83.ML.103), see Richard Gay, in Illuminating the Renaissance, exh. cat., p. 88-89, Nr. 2. Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guel. Extravaganza 210, f. 472; the drawing on prepared paper measures 20 × 14,2 cm, the entire sheet 20 × 16 cm; First described by Oskar Doehring, Des Augsburger Patriciers Philipp Hainhofer Reisen nach Innsbruck und Dresden, Vienna, C. Graeser, 1897, p. 273. Hildegard Zimmermann, ‘Eine Silberstitzeichnung Jan van Eycks aus dem Besitze Philipp Hainhofers’, Jahrbuch der Könglich Preußischen Kunstsammlungen, 35, 1915, p. 215-222 (1426); M. Friedländer Die Altniederländische…, op. cit., p. 126-127 (ater 1428 i.e. ater the Madonna in the Church); L. von Baldass, Van Eyck…, op. cit., p. 90 note 3, p. 291 (crude copy ater the Madonna in the Church); E. Dhanens, Van Eyck, op. cit., p. 328 (follower); the most detailed study so far is Ester Gosebruch, Ein Zeichnungsblatt im Stammbuch Philipp Hainhofers im Besitz der Herzog-August-Bibliothek zu Wolfenbüttel (Cod.Guelf. Extrav. 210) und sein Verhältnis zur Kunst der Brüder Van Eyck. Unpublished MA-hesis TU Braunschweig 1981 who considers the Eyckian drawing the work of ‘he Master of the Wolfenbüttel-Drawing’. 84 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 84 24/11/16 13:49 SOME REMARKS ON DRAWINGS BY JAN VAN EYCK, HIS WORKSHOP AND HIS FOLLOWERS Fig. 10. Pieter Pourbus, Portraits of Jan van Eyenwerve and his wife Jacquemine Buuck, detail of the house ‘Den Pelicaan’, Bruges, Groeningemuseum © Hugo Maertens, Bruges. in the book. It was executed with diferent metal-points on prepared paper and represents the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel within the interior of a Gothic Church. he archangel Gabriel is seems reminiscent of the Angel in the Eyckian hree Maries at the Tomb as well as to the igure of Gabriel in Barthélémy d’Eyck’s Annunciation from Aix-en-Provence46. he way the faces are constructed and the folds are conceived resemble the Vienna-Coronation of the Virgin, here attributed to the Llangattock-Master. he Wolfenbüttel drawing was conceived in two successive stages and seems to be based the complex architectural background of Van Eyck’s Madonna in the Church. In contrast to other known copies ater Van Eyck’s famous panel, the 46 he similarity with the Rotterdam Angel already noted by H. Zimmermann, ‘Eine Silberstitzeichnung…’, art. cit., p. 220-221; on the relation with French painting, see Erwin Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Painting. Its Origin and Character, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 1953, p. 344, note 4. 85 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 85 24/11/16 13:49 TILL-HOLGER BORCHERT drawing isn’t an exact replica but alters the iconography and introduces details such as the depiction of the Holy Dove. he fact that the drawing also shows a buttress of the church’s exterior is reminiscent to Van Eyck’s miniature of the Mass of the Death in the Turin-Milan Hours and has even been considered both its prototype and copy47. But the fact that the drawing even depicts the cobwebs of Van Eyck’s panel demonstrates clearly that the Annunciation was made not ater the miniature or a workshop drawing but was copied ater the inished painting. he buttress of the drawing, signiicantly enough, reappears in a painted copy of about 1500 ater Jan van Eyck’s Madonna at the Fountain and shows that the Hainhofer-Annunciation must have been circulated among followers of Jan van Eyck48. here are indications that the Eyckian Annunciation served not only as a model drawing for Eyckian motives but also for architecture. he verso of the sheet shows a fragment of a detailed architectural drawing that represents a 14th or early 15th century wooden house in Flanders (ig. 9). he Annunciation is clearly not contemporary with drawing on the reverse which must be one of the earliest surviving architectural drawings in the Southern Netherlands, dating from around the same time as the earliest known architect’s plan in the Low Countries49. he type of house represented on the reverse of the Annunciation shows one of the prestigious wooden houses that once were the most lavish buildings in medieval lemish cities before they were replaced because of ire hazards. Marcus Gheraerts’ map of Bruges of 1562 shows still a number of streets with similar wooden façades. I think there are strong indications that the drawing on the reserve may have been made in Bruges in the second half of the 16th century. Marcus Gheeraerts’ map testiies to an archeological mindset that felt the need to need to document ancient façades. A similar same spirit is felt in the Pieter Pourbus’ Portraits of Jan van Eyenwerve and his wife Jacquemine Buuck from 1551 where the painter depicted the house ‘Den Pelicaan’ with a similar wooden façade (ig. 10)50. Pourbus painting reveals a similar mindset than the drawing in as much as it shows details that weren’t necessary for an architect. A closer look at the reverse of the Hainhofer-drawing reveals that the façade is incomplete and that the two lower loors are missing. he fragmentary state of the drawing suggests that the depiction of the Annunciation must originally also been linked to a second representation and therefore must have formed the let wing of a diptych. his situation seems to mirror the original context of Van Eyck’s Madonna at the Church that also was – judging from the base of known copies – the let wing of a diptych51. It seems plausible to assume that in both cases the missing wing was reserved for the portrait of the donor. Be that as it may, the drawing of the Annunciation gives us a glimpse of the circumstances that Eyckian motives circulated as modeldrawings well into the 16th century. 47 48 49 50 51 See J. Bruyn, Van Eyck Problemen…, op. cit., p. 124-126. First observerd by Bruyn, Ibid, p. 124-126, on the status of the panel, see K. Christiansen and M. Ainsworth (eds), From Van Eyck to Bruegel…, op. cit., Nr. 48. Among the earliest known architectural drawings in the Low Countries is the plan of the Antwerp Architect Domien de Waghemaker for the Engels Huis (end 15th century, Stadsarchief Antwerpen), see Rutger Tijs et al., Architectuurtekeningen uit de historische steden van België/ Dessins architecturaux des villes historiques de Belgique, Wommelgem Vereniging van Historische Steden van België, s.d. (1985), p. 6; I plan to discuss the relevance of the architectural drawing in its historic context in a diferent contribution, in preparation. See Paul Huvenne, Pieter Pourbus, meester-schilder 1524-1584, exhibition cat. (Bruges, 1984), Bruges, Gemeentekrediet, 1984, p. 212. Two copies of Van Eyck’s Madonna in the Church still form a diptych with the representation of the donor on the right wing: the Diptych of Christian D’Hondt (Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts), attributed to the Master of 1499 and Jan Gossaert’s Diptych of Antonio Siciliano, today in the private collection of the Princes Doria Pamphili in Rome. 86 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 06_Hfst_05_STAH_La_pensee_v6.indd 86 24/11/16 13:49 PLANCHES EN COULEUR Pl. 5. Poitiers, Médiathèque François Mitterand, ms. 11, f. 4v © Médiathèque François Mitterand. M. A. Bilotta, La Bibbia ms. 11…, ig. 3. Pl. 6. Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 1105, f. 1 © Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. M. A. Bilotta, La Bibbia ms. 11…, ig. 10. Pl. 7. Jean Bellegambe, La Trinité, peinture à la détrempe sur bois, 162 × 75 cm, panneau central de la seconde ouverture du Polyptyque d’Anchin, vers 1510-1520 © Douai, Musée de la Chartreuse, Inv. 2175. F. Bœsplug, Le secret de Dieu…, ig. 1. Pl. 8. Calvary, gold and silver points, black ink on prepared paper, formerly in private collection © T.-H. Borchert. T.-H. Borchert, Somes Remarks on…, ig. 3. 425 38_Hfst_STAH_La_pensee_Color_Plates_v6.indd 425 24/11/16 13:58 PLANCHES EN COULEUR Pl. 9. Annunciation, drawing in Liber Amicorum of the Augsburg merchant Philip Hainhofer (1578-1647), Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guel. Extravaganza 210, f. 472 © Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel. T.-H. Borchert, Somes Remarks on…, ig. 8. 426 © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. 38_Hfst_STAH_La_pensee_Color_Plates_v6.indd 426 24/11/16 13:58