Van Eyck Studies: Papers Presented at the Eighteenth Symposium for the Study of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting, Brussels, 19-21 September 2012

Since Paul Coreman’s ground-breaking L'Agneau mystique au

laboratoire in 1953, the Ghent Altarpiece, masterwork of the

Van Eyck brothers, has been a major focus of research at the Royal

Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels). Some sixty years

later, in the wake of a new conservation campaign in which KIK-IRPA is

again playing the leading role, the art of Hubert and Jan van Eyck took

centre stage at the Symposium XVIII for the Study of Underdrawing and

Technology in Painting (Brussels, 19-21 September 2012). The event was

organised by the KIK-IRPA and the Centre for the Study of the Flemish

Primitives in collaboration with the Laboratoire d'etude des uvres d'art

par des methodes scientifiques (Universite catholique de

Louvain-la-Neuve), and Illuminare - Centre for the Study of Medieval Art

(Katholieke Universiteit Leuven).
The Ghent Altarpiece and

the oeuvre of Jan van Eyck continue to captivate modern viewers and still

arouse tremendous interest among art historians. The fascination with

Eyckian art, with all its dazzling illusionistic effects and iconographic

finesse, is every bit as fresh and challenging as it was six centuries

ago.
During three days of presentations and intense discussions,

eminent specialists from all over the world attempted to fanthom the

secrets of Van Eyck’s success. They debated the issues from a variety of

different standpoints, and shed new light on thorny topics such as

attribution, iconography and painting technique.
This book captures

the variety of thirty-seven papers presented at the symposium and provides

state-of-the-art knowledge on one of the most significant painters of all

time. It should be read in conjunction with the widely acclaimed website

Closer to Van Eyck , which offers the scientific imagery of the Ghent

Altarpiece in glorious high resolution.