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In the latin and italian versions of De pictura, written between 1435 and 1436, Leon Battista Alberti puts down in writing the basic geometric elements for making a linear perspective construction in painting: the vanishing point, the picture plane, a method for gauging the distances. Of particular interest in the Alberti’s procedure is the condition that both the viewers and the painted figures appear to be in the same ground plane. North of the Alps in the fourth decade of fifteenth century Jan Van Eyck also applies the same principle in his innovative paintings as The Arnolfini Portrait.

espanolEste articulo demuestra que las Revelaciones de santa Brigida fueron esenciales para la creacion de una nueva iconografia de la Virgen para el arte flamenco de las primeras decadas del siglo XV. El objetivo es analizar el amplio espectro de textos brigidinos que explican los elementos simbolicos de la pintura relacionados con la iconografia de la Virgen, con su representacion fisica y simbolica y los atributos, y con los dogmas marianos, especialmente aquellos de la Virginidad Perpetua, la Inmaculada Concepcion y la Asuncion. La pintura de la Virgen en la tabla de Altar de Gante es, en muchos aspectos, una nueva creacion, y revela como el simbolismo de los ultimos siglos del Medievo han dado paso a nuevas exigencias de la literatura mistica y devocional. El interes en el misticismo femenino dentro de los territorios de Flandes y Brabante se remonta a los inicios del siglo XIII, cuando se da el desarrollo de un nuevo movimiento religioso femenino. En este ambiente particularmente sensible a la palabra femenina, las obras de Brigida pueden tener la debida recepcion y su mariologia pudo inspirar la representacion de la Virgen del Poliptico de Gante. EnglishThis article demonstrates that the Revelations were essential for the creation of a new iconography of the Virgin for the Flemish art of the first decades of the 15th century. The aim is that to analyze the wide-range of Brigittine texts that explain the symbolic elements of the painting which are related to the iconography of the Virgin, to her physical and symbolic features and attributes, and to Marian dogmas, especially those of the Perpetual Virginity, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. The depiction of the Virgin in the Ghent Altarpiece is, in many respects, brand new and reveals how the symbolism of the last medieval centuries had given way to the new demands of devotional and mystical literature. The interest in female mysticism within the territories of Flanders and Brabant dates back to the beginning of the 13th century, when the development of a new female religious movement took place. In this environment particularly sensitive to the feminine word, the works of Bridget could find the right reception and her Mariology could inspire the representation of the Virgin of the Ghent Altarpiece.

From the first third of the 15th century onwards, panel paintings with marbled reverses increasingly appeared in Flemish art. The fronts of these panels primarily depicted religious narrative scenes or portraits. The backs were decorated with an abstract pattern, referred to as marbling. These painted marble facsimiles often differed in terms of design from other examples of stone imitations such as those used on the frame decorations of other panels. Unlike these frames, which suggest a greater illusionistic intention, the marbled reverses appear to function as abstract ornamentation. However, this article proposes that the painted backs are thematically linked to the pictorial narratives of the fronts. The marbled backs of Rogier van der Weyden’s Crucifixion and the Portrait of Margareta van Eyck will be considered in the context of a profane and a theological iconography. Both panels feature a reverse that can be identified as both an imitation of red porphyry and a representation of liquid paint. Metaphysical, material–semantic, and theological references will be revealed in the pictorial examples.

Con autorización de la revista para autores CSIC, [EN] This article offers the first analysis of the Rolin Madonna (ca. 1435) in relation to Jan van Eyck’s trip to Castile and Granada (1429). The space and the architectural typology in the painting reveal Hispanic influences which are only explicable through first-hand experience by the artist. These elements were not fully understood by his Flemish peers, who adapted them to local use. This study allows us to re-position Van Eyck and Chancellor Rolin’s interests in line with the plurality of artistic models and the tensions between the existing hegemonies and the multiculturalism of the major global powers during the Early Modern period., [ES] Este artículo analiza por primera vez la Madonna Rolin (ca. 1435) en relación con el viaje de Jan van Eyck a Castilla y Granada (1429). El espacio y la tipología arquitectónica del cuadro denotan influencias hispanas explicables únicamente a través de la experiencia in situ del artista, elementos que sus colegas flamencos no comprendieron y readaptaron a sus usos locales. Como consecuencia, esta investigación permite resituar los intereses de Van Eyck y del canciller Rolin en línea con la pluralidad de modelos y con las tensiones entre hegemonías y multiculturalidad de las grandes potencias europeas en la temprana Edad Moderna