LOTTE BRAND PHILIP ~ The GHENT ALTARPIECE

The GHENT ALTARPIECE, reconstructed by LOTTE BRAND PHILIP

The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan and Hubert Van Eyck

[Text from Northern Renaissance Art by James Snyder. Abrams, 1985]

[Images from The Ghent Altarpiece by Lotte Brand Philip. Princeton University Press, 1971]

[quote]

As for the physical discrepancies in the polyptych, a recent proposal by Lotte Brand Philip provides the solution in part. The simple wooden frame that now borders the panels hardly suffices for a display so elaborate. Philip has brought forth evidence to suggest that the various paintings were originally housed in a huge, tiered tabernacle that resembled a cathedral elevation commonly seen in numerous Late Gothic carved altarpieces. When opened, the central corpus in the upper register was thus encased as one unit within a golden shrine resembling a huge reliquary or church interior. The musical angels would then be seen as choirs against a blue sky in the open areas formed by the flying buttresses that reach from the outer walls to the vaults of the enclosed shrine. The tall figures of Adam and Eve, placed as they are in the shallow stone niches, appear as lesser figures decorating the outer wall buttressing far removed from the inner sanctuary, a much more appropriate position for them. Exactly how such an elaborate framework would operate within the confines of a small chapel is something of a problem - it presumably was hinged to allow the various panels to move - but such an imposing architectural setting would have displayed the paintings in a more meaningful context of the divine service, the cathedral being the earthly reflection of the City of God in Heaven...

According to Philip, the inscription on the frame of the Ghent altarpiece has been misread. Hubertus Pictor should be Hubertus Fictor, designating his role as the maker of the sumptuous stone frame whose hinged wings would move back and forth to the accompaniment of music played by a mechanical organ within it.

[end quote]

The Fountain of Grace and the Triumph of Ecclesia by a follower of the Van Eycks