The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin

The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin (The Madonna of chancellor Rolin )
Artist: Jan van Eyck; oil on panel; Size: 66x62 cm; Louvre, Paris.

The altarpiece The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin was commissioned by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor of Burgundy and Brabant since 1422, and until 1880 the painting was hung in the sacristy of Autun Cathedral, to which it had probably been donated by the chancellor himself or by his son Jean, who was bishop of Autun. The painting is painted around 1435 and represents the Virgin crowned by an angel and holding on her lap the Child, who is blessing the donor. In the background three arches face onto a terrace with a crenelated wall, beyond which extends a vast landscape with a city on a river. This has been identified with various places, but should probably be seen as an ideal city, although some elements were undoubtedly taken from drawings of real monuments, like the tower of Utrecht Cathedral, visible immediately to the left of Jesus's head.
The capitals of the pillars on the left are carved with scenes from the Bible, and it is possible to identify the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel, the Killing of Abel and the Drunkenness of Noah. Van Eyck locates the main figures in a space represented in perspective, underlined by the rows of tiles on the floor, that is continued in the atmospheric bird's-eye view of the landscape, creating an almost vertiginous effect of trompe-l'ceil. The dual source of light accentuates the spatial effect of the composition and emphasizes the monumentality and solidity of the figures. In the likeness of Rolin the painter displays the full extent of his skill as a portraitist, with the lifelike depiction of the wrinkles, the beard that is just beginning to sprout and the veins and skin of the hands. He also shows a striking ability to convey the texture of material in the fur-lined brocade robe. Note the acute observation of plants and animals in the small garden beyond the arches: here, as in the beautiful landscape with the waters of the river reflecting the bridge and the boats and this mountains fading into the distance, van Eyck has gone beyond the naturalism of the late Gothic and moved on to that of the Renaissance.