VI. NOTE IN CONCLUSION

However representative the great masterpieces which it has been possible to notice within the scope of this monograph, we are far yet from having covered the art of the Van Eycks; and, strangely enough, the same difficulty that is met in apportioning to each his share in the Great Polyptych recurs when seeking to ascribe a number of other paintings which are certainly the work of one or other of the brothers. The study of these will always appeal to the intelligent student of their art, and as a typical example of the group we present the altarpiece known as „The Blessed Virgin and Child and Chancellor Rolin“ (Plate VIII.), in the Louvre, Paris: a remarkable work in respect of types, of portraiture, and of landscape, every detail of which has been elaborated to a degree scarcely conceivable. Many other of their paintings are to be found scattered over Europe, along with much that is the work of copyist, pupil, or imitator, too often with idle claims to authenticity; for the influence of the Van Eycks was coextensive with the art world of their day. Truthfulness, it has been observed, was the dominant note of their art, and by their sedulous cultivation of Truth they dominated the art of their age. With John this love of truth amounted well-nigh to a passion; and the reproach of the carping critic to whom beauty of feature alone makes for beauty of portraiture fails of its effect on the true artist mind, to whom the faithful record of all trifling blemishes of the face is but an added testimony and guarantee of the fidelity of the portrait as a portrait of the inner as well as of the outer man. Even a great painter may enhance his present popularity and widen his clientele by a flattering suppression of personal disfigurement, but only to the injury of his fame and the hurt of his own self-respect. John van Eyck scorned to grovel at the feet of Vanity, and with this acknowledgment of the sense and honesty of his sitters he combined the fulfilment of a duty to posterity, for with the true instinct of genius he knew that he was painting not for his own brief day, but for all time, and that, as the founder of a great school of portraiture and the father of landscape art, it behoved him to set an example of the cardinal principle which should direct them. Under any conditions John van Eyck’s genius must have asserted itself, but happily it was fortunate in its setting, for the brilliancy of the great Burgundian court and the sumptuous patronage of Duke Philip in the full blaze of his power and glory were invaluable aids to the production and dissemination of his art. Nor did success spoil his sterling nature: amidst all the triumphs of his life his character remained singularly free from the tarnish of empty pride, to the last the exquisite yield of his art being given to the world in a charming spirit of apology so aptly embodied in the simple motto of his choosing, „Als ich kan.“ And who among all the great painters of the after ages has done better?