DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42068#0096
MÉLANGES HULIN DE LOO
69
In support of this supposition one notes several diffé-
rences between the design of the picture as disclosed by
the x-ray and as seen on tbe surface. Chiefly important
is the omission of the hand from the shadowgraph. The
space occnpied on the surface by the hand is filled in the
shadowgraph by large strokes representing drapery. In
fact the folds of mnch of the drapery differ in the sha-
dowgraph from what we see on the surface. Taken as an
indication of the artist’s first conception—his first plan,
these underpainted forms can be judged as belonging to
a more monumental and dignified design, in which one does
not feel cramped by the intrusion of the weakly proportion-
ed hand and by the suggestion of withered forearms
beneath fiat sleeves.
Did Jan Van Eyck « correct » this portrait himself, by
adding as an afterthought these details on the surface of
the picture? If one follows the x-ray evidence one must
conclude that he did not add the hand, since there is no
indication in the shadowgraph of the white pigment used
in painting the fingers, and since this white must therefore
differ in substance from the white of the face (1). On the
other side of the question is the fact that the surface of
the painting is uniform, intact and well preserved; one
cannot believe that the hand was not présent for the
greater part of the picture’s existence. Why the hand
should hâve been added at ail is still a problem. But there
are at least two bits of evidence—the différence in density
and the imposition of the hand upon strokes of drapery,
to show that it did not enter into Jan Van Eyck’s compo-
sition from the first. One may suppose that the artist
spent much time on the face and blocked in the drapery,
leaving the bottom part incomplète, a process natural
enough in an intimate family record. The hand may then
(1) A correction in tlhe hand of the Leal Souvenir, in the National Gallery,
is, for instance, recorded in the shadowgraph, both the first and the final
positions showing clearly.
69
In support of this supposition one notes several diffé-
rences between the design of the picture as disclosed by
the x-ray and as seen on tbe surface. Chiefly important
is the omission of the hand from the shadowgraph. The
space occnpied on the surface by the hand is filled in the
shadowgraph by large strokes representing drapery. In
fact the folds of mnch of the drapery differ in the sha-
dowgraph from what we see on the surface. Taken as an
indication of the artist’s first conception—his first plan,
these underpainted forms can be judged as belonging to
a more monumental and dignified design, in which one does
not feel cramped by the intrusion of the weakly proportion-
ed hand and by the suggestion of withered forearms
beneath fiat sleeves.
Did Jan Van Eyck « correct » this portrait himself, by
adding as an afterthought these details on the surface of
the picture? If one follows the x-ray evidence one must
conclude that he did not add the hand, since there is no
indication in the shadowgraph of the white pigment used
in painting the fingers, and since this white must therefore
differ in substance from the white of the face (1). On the
other side of the question is the fact that the surface of
the painting is uniform, intact and well preserved; one
cannot believe that the hand was not présent for the
greater part of the picture’s existence. Why the hand
should hâve been added at ail is still a problem. But there
are at least two bits of evidence—the différence in density
and the imposition of the hand upon strokes of drapery,
to show that it did not enter into Jan Van Eyck’s compo-
sition from the first. One may suppose that the artist
spent much time on the face and blocked in the drapery,
leaving the bottom part incomplète, a process natural
enough in an intimate family record. The hand may then
(1) A correction in tlhe hand of the Leal Souvenir, in the National Gallery,
is, for instance, recorded in the shadowgraph, both the first and the final
positions showing clearly.