Singing Angels
Jan van Eyck·1432
Historical Context
These Singing Angels from the Ghent Altarpiece (1432) are among the most celebrated details of Jan van Eyck's magnum opus in St. Bavo's Cathedral. The altarpiece, completed with his brother Hubert, is considered the founding masterwork of early Netherlandish painting Jan van Eyck perfected the Flemish oil technique, achieving a microscopic precision and luminosity that made Northern European painting a revelation to Italian contemporaries Oil on canvas, increasingly preferred over panel in the
Technical Analysis
The angels' mouths are opened in song with physiological accuracy, their expressions individually differentiated. Van Eyck's oil technique creates luminous, jewel-like colors in the brocade robes, each thread seemingly visible.
