Jan van Eyck Master of Oil Painting
...materials, from metal to glass to satin robes, in a remarkably realistic way. He was the court painter for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and was so highly regarded as more than a mere artist, he was sent on many diplomatic missions. The Duke even trusted him to negotiate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal. In this masterpiece, which was used as a devotional piece and could be closed up and carried from place to place, the moment of the Crucifiixtion is caught as if by the lens of a camera. There is a sad stillness in this piece -yet there is also enormous energy. If you look at each figure and face you feel the emotion and humanism of each person. The mother of Jesus is at the bottom of the picture in dark robes, head bowed in grieving sorrow. Mary Magdalene raises her hands in prayer and anguish towards the cross. The man in a golden-tone robe on a horse at the foot of the cross is grinning and bragging to another man who seems happy that the nasty deed is over. It is believed that this work was commissioned by the man to the right of the cross with an ermine collar and an elaborate headdress who looks straight out at the viewer. In the mid to lower right side of the painting there is a man dressed in a mauve tunic with a metal shield attached to his waist. Van Eyck in one of his trademark gestures has reflected in the shield the image of two figures. Higher up on the canvass behind the dying Jesus is a perfect landscape that retreats into the far distance. This was another hallmark of van Eyck's work. He introduced a technique called atmospheric perspective. As the landscape retreats to the horizon it becomes muted in color and haze, giving the allusion of distance. In a wonderful juxtaposition to Jesus' crucifixion and therefore, the salvation of mankind...