Erythraean Sibyl and arched window with a view

This panel depicting the Erythraean Sibyl and an arched window with a view forms part of the Ghent Altarpiece's complex iconographic program. The ancient sibyls, prophetesses who were believed to have foretold Christ's coming, were paired with Old Testament prophets in the altarpiece to demonstrate the universal anticipation of the Incarnation. The prophets and sibyls of the Ghent Altarpiece's exterior panels demonstrate Jan van Eyck's command of the theological iconography of Christian typology — the idea that the Hebrew prophets and pagan sibyls had foretold the coming of Christ, making the Old Testament and classical antiquity precursors to the New. His rendering of aged prophetic figures, their faces communicating the weight of divine revelation, belongs to the northern tradition of devotional art that treated the human face as the primary vehicle for spiritual expression. The precise rendering of aging flesh, the quality of light on their robes, and the psychological depth of their expressions all reflect van Eyck's founding achievements in Flemish oil painting.

Van Eyck renders the sibylline figure with meticulous naturalism while the arched window demonstrates his mastery of architectural perspective and atmospheric distance.