This thesis emphasizes the senses of the audience in reception of Jan van Eyck’s heroic Ghent Altarpiece. This pivotal work may have demanded the viewer engage in a hierarchy of devotion ranging from intimate and private to public and liturgical. Jan van Eyck engages in a strategy of representation that focus and specify various aspects of vision to create a multivalent devotional experiences for the viewer. This thesis compares some of the visual uses of frames in miniatures and how they relate to altarpiece formats and hierarchies of vision. Reception of the Ghent Altarpiece is also discussed in relation to Augustine of Hippo’s theory of tri-partite vision as well as his theory of cross-modal uses of the sense in dialogues of spiritual truth. Sound is also a vital component of the devotional experience of the Ghent Altarpiece. Issues of music and speech acts are discussed to underscore the multivalent devotional uses of the Ghent Altarpiece. / text

The Ince Hall Virgin and child is a painting of the Virgin and Child in an interior that was attributed to Jan van Eyck by the leading historians of early Netherlandish art from 1854 to 1956. Between 1956 and 1959 the work was subject to a technical and art historical analysis in Europe, in the re-classification of the work as a copy by a follower of Van Eyck, and possibly a forgery. Subsequently, a number of art historians have suggested that not even the composition of the work is Eyckian, and that the work is a pastiche based on Van Eyck’s paintings. Nevertheless, some authors have doubted the arguments for these reattributions. Some authors maintain the attributions to Van Eyck, and others suggest that the work may be a copy. This thesis is the first comprehensive critical reappraisal of the scientific and art historical analysis to be conducted. In the first chapter it examines the provenance and bibliography of the work. / In the second chapter it examines published and unpublished documents relating to the technical analysis found in Melbourne, Brussels, London and Amsterdam, which have been brought together for the first time. It also contains an interpretation of the work’s infrared reflectography that was produced, for the first time, for this thesis. It is argued that, contrary to the 1950's analysis, there is no technical impediment to an attribution of the work to Van Eyck. Furthermore, technical analysis reveals numerous correspondences to Van Eyck’s works, in the pigments, paint layer structures, underdrawing style and pentimenti. In the third chapter the relationship of the execution, composition and iconography to Van Eyck’s paintings is discussed. It is argued that the execution, composition and iconography are closely related to Van Eyck’s works. In the fourth chapter the attribution of the work as an original painting of Van Eyck, a copy, a pastiche or a forgery is discussed. It is concluded that the balance of the available evidence suggests the attribution of the work to Van Eyck, or his studio, is justifiable. The possibility that the work is a free copy is not excluded, but is undermined by the numerous correspondences to Van Eyck’s materials and technique and its relationship to the versions of the composition by other artists.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Melbourne,School of Fine Arts, Classics and Archaeology, 2001. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references(leaves: 116-141).

Tout visage est structuré selon un ordre symétrique. La thèse explore les conséquences de cette spécificité formelle du visage sur la construction du portrait dans le contexte spécifique de la Renaissance. Elle débute par une remise en cause de l’approche neuropsychologique qui fait de la dissymétrie et de la partition du visage dans le portrait la simple expression d’un donné physionomique. À travers une réflexion autour de la symétrie et de la dissymétrie dans l’ordre de la représentation, notre recherche rend compte de l’intérêt de ces catégories esthétiques pour la compréhension des enjeux formels et philosophiques propres à la construction du portrait. Elle révèle également la richesse et la complexité des significations allouées à la symétrie et à la dissymétrie dans le cosmos culturel de la Renaissance, celles-ci allant parfois à contre-courant de nos représentations contemporaines. Une dernière partie de cette recherche est consacrée au symbolisme théologique séculaire distinguant entre le côté droit et le côté gauche du visage, un côté tourné vers le céleste, l’autre vers le terrestre, et à son influence sur l’art du portrait. La démonstration est rythmée par diverses études de cas, parmi lesquelles des analyses approfondies de portrait peints par Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Bellini, Raphaël et Albrecht Dürer. / Every face is structured in a symmetrical order. This research paper explores the consequences of this formal specificity on the construction of the portrait in the particular context of the European Renaissance. It starts with a critique of the neuropsychological approach that makes the asymmetry and the distinction between the two sides of the face in the portrait the mere expression of a particular physiognomy. Through a reflection on the aesthetic categories of symmetry and asymmetry in the order of representation, the research demonstrates the interest of these concepts for the understanding of the formal and philosophical issues specific to the construction of portraits. It also reveals the richness and complexity of meanings assigned to symmetry and asymmetry in the cultural cosmos of the Renaissance, these ones sometimes going against the grain of contemporary representations. The final section is devoted to the secular theological symbolism distinguishing between the right side and the left side of the face, one side turned to the heavenly, the other to the earthly, and the resulting influence on the art of portraiture. The demonstration is punctuated by various case studies, including an in-depth analysis of portraits painted by Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Bellini, Raphael and Albrecht Dürer.

This diploma thesis is focused on presenting selected artwork with the theme of Hell, which were made in 15. and 16. century. The focus will be on placing this artworks into whole artworks of selected painters. Also to compare it between each other and try to prove how was the tradition of this theme affected by political situation, customer and how was it affected by literature.