Portrait of Margareta van Eyck

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Portrait of Margareta van Eyck: Jan van Eyck

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Jan van Eyck Oil Painting - Portrait of Margareta van Eyck

Keywords: Portrait, Margareta, Eyck

Work Overview: Portrait of Margaret van Eyck (Margaret, the Artist's Wife)
Jan van Eyck
1439
Oil on wood
32,6 x 25,8 cm
Groeninge Museum, Bruges

The small, intimate picture is the portrait of Margaret van Eyck, the painter's wife. The portrait is transparently shadowed and its white hood subtly modelled. Until the French Revolution, the painters' corporation kept this work in its chambers, treating it almost like a holy relic. How it came to be there remains unknown, especially since its creator, a court painter, had never been a guildsman. Completed in 1439, just two years before his death, Van Eyck may have intended the work for his home. Perhaps he gave it to his wife as a birthday present, as the panel incorporates the mock-chiselled 'speaking' inscription - my husband Johannes finished painting me in the year 1439 on 15 June / my age was thirty-three. This is followed by the artist's own motto in Greek characters, als ikh kan (to the best of my ability), probably an anagram of his name based on the traditional closing formula used by manuscript copyists. Van Eyck was, after all, a copier of reality.

Portrait of Margaret van Eyck (or Margaret, the Artist's Wife) is a 1439 oil on wood painting by the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck. It is one of the two latest[1] of his surviving paintings, and one of the earliest European artworks to depict a painter's spouse. Completed when she was around 34, it was hung until the early 18th century in the Bruges chapel of the Guild of painters. The work is thought to be a pendant or diptych panel for either a now lost self-portrait known from records until 1769, or of Jan van Eyck's likely self-portrait now in the National Gallery in London.[2]

The reason for its inception is unknown; but that it was created for private rather than public viewing can be inferred from the sitter's unidealised representation and her direct but plaintive gaze towards the viewer, which creates an intimate and informal atmosphere. The painting was probably created to mark an occasion; maybe to commemorate the couple's anniversary, or her birthday, or as a gift to her.[3]

Van Eyck died within two years of this work. He inscribed plates on the top and ends of the frame in Greek lettering with the words, My husband Johannes completed me in the year 1439 on 17 June, at the age of 33. As I can.[3] "As I can" (ALS ICH KAN) was something of a personal motto and motif for van Eyck, as well as a pun on his surname. It can be found inscribed on several of his religious paintings, though on only two portraits.

Margaret is shown in three-quarter view, that is her body almost directly facing the viewer but not quite. She is set against a flat black and featureless background, wearing an elegant red woolen gown with grey fur lining (in the medieval period fur often represented female sexuality), probably from squirrel,[5] in the neck and cuffs. Her horned wimple is decorated with fine lace. Her left eye shows evidence of a squint, a feature unusually evident in northern Europeans of the era. The painter has taken a number of liberties with representation to accentuate the features of his wife. Her head is out of proportion to her body, and her forehead unusually and fashionably high, a device which allows the artist to concentrate on the facial features of his wife. In addition, the geometric pattern formed by her head-dress, arms and the V of her neck-line allows her face to dominate the image.[6]

The couple likely married around 1432–33, soon after his move to Bruges - she is unmentioned before he relocated while the first of their two children was born in 1434. Very little is known of Margaret, even her maiden name is lost - contemporary records refer to her mainly as Damoiselle Marguierite.[3] She is thought to have been of aristocratic birth, though from the lower nobility, evidenced from her clothes in this portrait which are fashion but not of the sumptuousness worn by the bride in van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait. The fabrics and colours worn by people of the 15th century were informally regulated by their social position; for example black, an expensive dye, could only be worn by the upper reaches of society. As the widow of a renowned painter, Margaret was afforded a modest pension by the city of Bruges after Jan's death. It is recorded that at least some of this income was invested in lottery.

Although the Early Netherlandish painters are highly regarded today, they were almost forgotten by the early 1800s. This work was not rediscovered until the late 18th century when it was found for sale in a Belgian fish market,[7] although accounts differ. As with most of the rediscovered works of its era, it underwent a number of attributions before a broad consensus on its origin was formed. The portrait is still in its original frame[8] and is in very good condition with the colours and paint well preserved. It was cleaned and restored by the National Gallery, London in 1998.

Many early collectors and later art historians speculated that it might have once formed half of a diptych. It was paired as a pendant for a time with a self-portrait by van Eyck when two of his works were acquired by the chapel of the Guild of Saint Luke before 1769.[3] Some critics, when supporting the theory of a diptych, mention a now-lost male portrait known to be similar to his National Gallery, London Portrait of a Man.[9][10] A third painting is suspected, but not known, to be a portrait of Margaret: the 1436 Lucca Madonna.[11] However, art historian Max Friedlænder warned against assumptions based on facial resemblance, believing that artists of the time may have projected the likeness of the women in their lives onto female subjects in their religious work.

The inscription on the original marbled framework of this work identifies the woman in the portrait as the wife of the painter, Margareta van Eyck. In translation, the inscription declares in trompe-l’oeil: “my husband John completed me in the year 1430 on 17 June/ I was thirty-three years old.” It is followed by Jan van Eyck’s motto “Als ich can” (as I can). The portrait stands out because of the difference in scale between the trunk and head. Margareta is near the light source, a window that is mirrored in her eyes, and she turns and looks at the viewer. Her hair is done up in a fashionable way in two small horns that are held together by hairnets in chequered motifs. Over this lies a linen veil. She wears a red over garment trimmed in squirrel fur that is bound up high with a broad belt. The portrayed one places her hands on top of each other. On the right hand, she is wearing a ring.

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Following cleaning, the small losses and areas of damage needed to be retouched so that they do not distract from the compelling image and Van Eyck’s immaculate painting technique.

The small size and refinement of the painting meant that the retouching had to be very precise. It was mostly carried out under the magnification of a microscope. The smallest size of brush was used to apply the retouching paints, especially manufactured for restorers.1

The materials used for the new restoration had to be stable, not changing colour like the old varnish and retouchings, and remain easily resoluble so that the painting can be safely cleaned again in the future. Carefully selected and tested modern synthetic resin paints were therefore employed.

The most damaged part of the painting was the black background, especially in the area above Margaret’s head. By eliminating these losses, the velvety depth of the black is recovered and the astonishing painting of the edges of the white headdress can be appreciated without interruption.

The network of cracks which has developed with time in the ground and paint layers is a distinctive feature of the painting. A similar craquelure can be seen on some other works by Van Eyck, including A Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1433.

In some areas, however, the cracks have become widened by small flake losses from their edges and corners. The effect was to disrupt the subtleties of modelling in the white headdress and in a few places on Margaret’s face and neck. These minute losses were retouched, taking great care not to eliminate the cracks completely as they are intrinsic to a painting of this age.

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