A new look at Van Eyck

The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin – the only work by Jan van Eyck (about 1390/95–1441) to be held in France – is one of the Louvre’s master paintings, but is surprisingly overlooked today.
The historic conservation work recently carried out at the Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France was the first intervention of its kind since the painting entered the museum in 1800. The layers of oxidised varnish that had darkened the paint were stripped away, restoring the work to its former glory.  
The special exhibition devoted to this event at the Louvre combines prestigious loans from major international museums and a virtual reality experience that takes viewers into the heart of Van Eyck’s painting. It is an opportunity to take a new look at the painting long known as the Virgin of Autun and reconsider what we thought we knew about this iconic work.
 
The exhibition brings together the largest number of works by Jan van Eyck ever shown in France (six in all), including The Lucca Madonna, on loan for the first time in its history from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. Visitors will be able to gain greater insight into the painting in the Louvre by comparing it with the other five works by Van Eyck, as well as with paintings by Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Hieronymus Bosch and the great illuminators of the period. Some sixty painted panels, manuscripts, drawings, bas-reliefs and precious metal artefacts will be assembled for a unique exhibition made possible by the support of many museums and institutions in France and abroad, including the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the Royal Library in Brussels, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin is a major work of Western art with an important meditative dimension that can make it seem difficult to understand.
The exhibition is therefore structured around a series of questions, taking the visitor through each stage in the process of viewing the painting: for what purpose(s) did Van Eyck create this unusual work for Nicolas Rolin, Chancellor to the Duchy of Burgundy? Why is the background landscape so miniaturised as to be almost invisible? How should we interpret the two small figures in the garden? What are the connections between this painting, the art of illumination and funerary bas-reliefs? Do we know how the artists of the 15th century interpreted the work?
 
The exhibition is organised in six sections that draw visitors deeper and deeper into the painting, with The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin placed in the centre of the room. Four of the sections revolve around at least one work by Jan van Eyck.

The exhibition layout and all programs linked to the exhibition can be found out in the downloadable press release below.

Exhibition curator:
Sophie Caron, Curator in the Department of Paintings, Musée du Louvre

Exhibition catalogue
Edited by Sophie Caron. Co-published by musée du Louvre éditions and Liénart éditions, 240 pages, 160 illustrations, €39.