Page 51 - Mediterraneo e dintorni - Maggio 2020

Santa Barbara di Nicomedia, 1437

San Francesco che riceve le stigmate, 1430-1432

1434-1436) della National Gallery (1437), uno splendido antico
of Art di Washington DC. Un dipinto incompiuto.
secondo dipinto è stato prestato Esposto anche lo splendido
per l’occasione dagli Stati Uniti: Ritratto d’uomo con copricapo blu,
è la pergamena su tavola del (ca. 1428-1430) proveniente dal
San Francesco riceve le stigmate, Muzeul National Brukenthal,
(c. 1430-1432) Philadelphia Sibiu (Romania), il quale fu
Museum of Art pressoché acquistato dal barone Samuel
identico con la replica più von Brukenthal come opere
grande conservata nella Galleria realizzata da Albrecht Dürer,
Sabauda di Torino. dove è ancora visibile il
Dal Museo Reale di Belle Arti di monogramma apocrifo di Dürere Ritratto di uomo con copricapo blu,
Anversa: il grisaille ad olio su più tardi attribuita a Jan van Eyck 1428-1430
tavola Santa Barbara di Nicomedia, da parte di T. von Frimmel.

jan Van eyCK. an opTiCal deVoluTion loans. From Italy, the so-called Turin Book of Hours (1422-1424),
Palazzo Madama di Torino, a youthful work by the artist, was
From 1 February to 30 April 2020, the Ghent Museum of loaned. In particular, it was possible to exceptionally admire
Fine Arts (Museum voor Schone Kunsten) hosted one of the eight external panels of the monumental polyptych the
the most important exhibitions ever dedicated to the Flemish Adoration of the Mystical Lamb, (1432), created together
art master Jan van Eyck (1390-1441). The great ambition of the with his brother Hubert van Eyck and kept in the Cathedral of
Belgian city was to collect the highest number of paintings made Saint Bavo in Ghent, a unique opportunity since 2020 they will
by the artist. Jan van Eyck was not only the official painter of never be moved from the Cathedral itself. The refined Diptych
the Duke of Burgundy, Philippe le Bon, but also his close friend, of the Annunciation (c.1433-1435) of the Nacional Thyssen-
adviser and secret agent. He was the initiator of the Flemish Bornemisza museum in Madrid was compared with the oil
school and the perfector of the oil painting technique that painting later transferred to the Annunciation canvas (ca. 1434-
gradually replaced the use of tempera paint in Europe. He was 1436) of the National Gallery of Art of Washington DC. A second
therefore the greatest North European painter of the fifteenth painting that was loaned for the occasion by the United States is
century. The influence of Jan van Eyck’s work also extended to the parchment on panel “San Francesco receives the stigmata”,
Italy, especially through the painting of Antonello da Messina. (c. 1430-1432) Philadelphia Museum of Art almost identical with
The artist paid great attention to the study of light, to the minute the largest replica preserved in the Savoy Gallery in Turin.
detail, to the space in which the figures are placed and not least From the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp it was possible
to the rendering of the surfaces. The works on display have been to admire the oil painting on Santa Barbara of Nicomedia,
set up in 13 rooms where more than 100 works have taken place (1437), a splendid ancient unfinished painting.
starting from the late Middle Ages and range from miniatures The splendid Portrait of a man with a blue headdress,
to paintings, from drawings to sculptures through sacred (ca. 1428-1430) from the Muzeul National Brukenthal, Sibiu
subjects and secular representations. For this occasion, ten of (Romania), which was purchased by Baron Samuel von
his masterpieces known to the general public were exhibited for Brukenthal as works by Albrecht Dürer, was also exhibited; the
the first time, half of the known works of the Flemish master still apocryphal monogram by Dürere later attributed to Jan van
in existence today, thanks to both national and international Eyck by T. von Frimmel, is still visible.

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