Jan Van Eyck The Last Judgement Analysis

The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment by Jan van Eyck, was painted around 1435-1440. Jan van Eyck was one of the most celebrated painter of the 15th century in Europe. Jan van Eyck was a Netherlandish painter. Van Eyck was a significant artist during the Northern Renaissance of the fifteenth century. This diptych like most diptych is not large, each panel stands 22 ¼ by 7 ⅔ inches. Jan van Eyck painted Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of mankind and the Last Judgment.

Jan van Eyck painted both secular, religious art as well as portraits and altarpieces. According to Wikipedia his style came from International Gothic, but he focused mostly on naturalism and realism. As we learned in class, Van Eyck mostly used oil, because it does not dries

Jan van Eyck made an impression with me when we covered him and class and The Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban is one of my favorites as well. I chose this one mainly because of how busy these paintings are as well as the contrast between the left and right on the right panel. The more I researched Crucifixion; The Last Judgment, the more interested I became. According to the Met Museum, the Crucifixion panel is presented as a first hand account. The left panel seems to have three different scene in one, starting from the top down. The top portion shows Jesus be crucified along with who I believe are the two these the gospels mention Jesus be crucified with. The top portion of the panel doesn 't show much detail in the background. This brings the attention forward to Jesus and then the two thieves. Jesus is the only one that facing the viewer straight forward everyone else is turned away at an angle. The bottom shows two clusters of people. The ones closer to the crucifixion seem to be all men. These men seem unfazed but the crucifixions taking place. The second grouping of people consist of women, with the Virgin Marry among them. I believe that Marry is the women in the blue robe, surrounded by three women that also seem to be grieving the loss with her. I believe that Marry is the women in blue because in class we learned she 's almost always in a blue robe. The robe covers most of her body and

The Last Judgment panel of The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment, by Jan Van Eyck also seems to be separated in three sections as well. From top to bottom is depicts heaven, earth and then hell at the bottom. The top shows Jesus looking majestical along with other angles. The way that this panel is set up also shows the importance of the figures. Jesus is top and center and is also one of the biggest figures on the painting, the Archangel is also depicted on the same scale of Jesus but his wingspan makes him look larger. On the right panel he 's surrounded by angles and apostles. Jesus looks majestic and triumphant in a red robe. Jesus has a yellow glow around his hands and feet that emphasize his puncture wounds from the crucifixion. Mary and John the Baptist are to his left and right, looking up to Jesus. The angels surrounding Jesus seem to be playing instruments and two are holding up the cross. One angle is also bearing the symbols of the crucifixion like the lance Christ was stabbed with and the crown of thorns. The top part of the painting as a very calming and gentle tone to it. Both panels show Jesus but they look like two different people. On the left he 's lifeless, has no clothes on and seems weak. The middle ground between heave and hell is small. It shows the Archangel Michael standing right over death. To Michaels right it shows people rising from their graves. On his left is shows the rippling current of the ocean. Michael drew my eye first in the picture. His