Title of Artwork: “The Lucca Madonna”
Artwork by Jan van Eyck
Year Created 1436
Summary of The Lucca Madonna
Approximately 1437 was the year that Jan van Eyck, an Early Netherlandish painter, painted The Madonna of Lucca in oil. A wooden throne, capped with a canopy, depicts Mary breastfeeding the child Christ while surrounded by angels. As a result of its craftsmanship and limited size, it is likely to have been part of a triptych. In Frankfurt, the Städel Museum owns the picture.
All About The Lucca Madonna
Because it was owned by Charles II, Duke of Parma and Lucca in the early 19th century, it is referred to as “Lucca Madonna” By Jan van Eyck, it’s one of his most recent creations Van Eyck’s wife, Margaretha, is thought to be depicted in the Virgin as well as in another of van Eyck’s paintings.
In addition to the canopy that covers the Virgin’s throne, four bronze lions serve as footrests. In relation to Solomon’s throne, which had a total of twelve lions on the sides and stairs, this refers to this. “Throne of Wisdom” symbolism is incorporated into the “Nursing Madonna” style. “The actual Solomon’s throne is the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in which Jesus Christ, the true wisdom, sat,” the Speculum Humanae Salvationis wrote.
Van Eyck and his contemporaries, like many other painters, further developed on this connection by showing Mary as a kind of larger, flattened altar, holding a baby Jesus on her lap. This is a nod to how an altar holds the body of Christ in the host at Mass. Both the white fabric that he is standing on and the niche to his right, which resembles a piscina and contained water for the priest to wash his hands, help to draw this parallel. The unique design of the space, which is quite small for a chair of this size, implies a church.
Aside from being apples or oranges, there is no way to know for sure which of the two fruits on the windowsill is a reference to paradise. With a mirror on its right side wall and a half-filled glass flask on a shelf, the room’s right side wall mirrors the view from the window. Large bowl or sink sits on the lowest ledge of the counter top. The throne’s base is surrounded by a carpet of blue and white geometric designs, which covers most of the floor tiles.
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
