WHERE DID THE MODERN EUROPEAN MASTERS GET THEIR LESSONS FROM?

 

        Why have I hailed Jan Van Eyck– the inventor of modern European painting, as the Wizard of Mathematics? If you are the person who maps his composition and explores each line within it in relationship with another found therein, you would share my astonishment and admiration for the man as well.

        Not a single drip of his paint seems to have been wasted in conveying decorative details. Every single molecule on the surface of his amazing canvas is completely related–there is not one isolated spot in his amazing composition! Just pick any point and you will find it to be either the very intersection of two straights or the center of a circle formed of many points of interest. If not, then it would certainly be that particular point which lies on the straight line linking the nose of a subject to the chin of yet another!

      On top of that, there are the powerful whirls of spirals and the interaction of various angles formed from the tangents of participating circles at hand. Yet the final product has merged unto such a realm of the fantastic– its very existence looks so decievingly spontaneous; and its painterly charm so directly appealing that it can nimbly and nonchalantly touch a chord in your heart with its rhythmic beauty! Its seeming ease belies the extreme complexity from which it has originally evolved.

If you fail to register that as magic– what would be a better name for it ?

If the man could not qualify for the Supreme Mathematical Wizard title, who could?

So one can see my astonishment, resulted from examining Master Van Eyck’s composition, is far from being causeless!

 

 

 Figure 1: The Madonna of Canon van der Paele, by Jan Van Eyck 1436 48X62 in

Figure 3: A portion of the intricate geometric ground plan of Figure 1.

 The great curve of PP’ touches the crown of the bishop, his jaw, passes a significant point under his left hand, goes through the left toe of Jesus before it continues on to describe an area within which is found the supposedly sacred double image of Madonna and Child.

The great circle of QQ’ forms the curve at the bottom part of the garment of Madonna and goes past the nose of Canon van der Paele, among other points of interest.

Figure 3: A portion of the intricate geometric ground plan of Figure 1.

The great curve of S’S describes the area where two subjects on the right chiefly occupy. TT’ is the small circle formed by many points of interests. If you can obtain a good copy of the actual painting and compare note with this diagram, you will see exactly what I refer to.

The hand of the Bishop, the base of his staff, and many significant points on the Bishop’s elaborate robe lie on the medium circle RR’.

 

Figure 4: A portion of the intricate geometric ground plan of Figure 1.

Examine the areas, the curvature of various items, and more than a dozen points of interest and significant being described within these linked circles, UU’, VV’, and WW’.

 

 Figure 5: A portion of the geometric ground plan of figure 1.

AB//CD//EF

MN//KL

GH//IJ

 

 The fantastic geometric ground plans of Jan Van Eyck inevitably take us to the Archaic and Classical Greek Arts.

 

 

 

Figure 6: The Naxian sphinx at Delphi c. 560 BC

              (Note the Archaic period’s early Ionic capital)

              Height of sphinx 2.25m

 

       Upon careful examination of the above sculpture, you will notice that IJ//KL; AB//CD; and EF seems to be anchoring those two sets of parallel lines.

    Where did most European masters get their art lessons from? Would one still speculate on anyone else other than Jan Van Eyck?

    Where did Jan Van Eyck get his art lesson from? Does one still have trouble seeing the clues that lead to Greek sculptures?

          

        

 

The above article and diagrams have been contributed by

Ben Taishing Lau  

 

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