Thursday,
2 February
∞
Detail from The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck where the artist signs his name to the painting as if it were written instead on the wall. One wonders if the artist had indeed signed the wall in the space depicted. Did he do so before rendering it in the painting or after? The painting spent most of its life in the possession of the Spanish Royal Family until eventually ending up at the National Gallery in London. Wikipedia gives the following dubious description of the painting’s move from Spain to England: 1700 - In an inventory after the death of Carlos II it was still in the palace, with shutters and the verses from Ovid. 1794 - Now in the Palacio Nuevo in Madrid. 1816 - The painting is now in London, in the possession of Colonel James Hay, a Scottish soldier. He claimed that after being seriously wounded at the Battle of Waterloo the previous year, the painting hung in the room where he convalesced in Brussels. He fell in love with it, and persuaded the owner to sell. More relevant to the real facts is no doubt Hay’s presence at the Battle of Vitoria (1813) in Spain, where a large coach loaded by King Joseph Bonaparte with easily portable artworks from the Spanish royal collections was first plundered by British troops, before what was left was recovered by their commanders and returned to the Spanish. Hay offered the painting to the Prince Regent, later George IV of England, via Sir Thomas Lawrence. The Prince had it on approval for two years at Carlton House before eventually returning it in 1818. c1828 - Hay gave it a friend to look after, not seeing it or the friend for the next thirteen years, until he arranged for it to be included in a public exhibition. 1841 - The painting was included in a public exhibition. 1842 - Bought by the recently-formed National Gallery, London for £600, as inventory number 186, where it remains. The shutters have gone, along with the original frame.

Detail from The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck where the artist signs his name to the painting as if it were written instead on the wall. One wonders if the artist had indeed signed the wall in the space depicted. Did he do so before rendering it in the painting or after?

The painting spent most of its life in the possession of the Spanish Royal Family until eventually ending up at the National Gallery in London. Wikipedia gives the following dubious description of the painting’s move from Spain to England:

  • 1700 - In an inventory after the death of Carlos II it was still in the palace, with shutters and the verses from Ovid.
  • 1794 - Now in the Palacio Nuevo in Madrid.
  • 1816 - The painting is now in London, in the possession of Colonel James Hay, a Scottish soldier. He claimed that after being seriously wounded at the Battle of Waterloo the previous year, the painting hung in the room where he convalesced in Brussels. He fell in love with it, and persuaded the owner to sell. More relevant to the real facts is no doubt Hay’s presence at the Battle of Vitoria (1813) in Spain, where a large coach loaded by King Joseph Bonaparte with easily portable artworks from the Spanish royal collections was first plundered by British troops, before what was left was recovered by their commanders and returned to the Spanish. Hay offered the painting to the Prince Regent, later George IV of England, via Sir Thomas Lawrence. The Prince had it on approval for two years at Carlton House before eventually returning it in 1818.
  • c1828 - Hay gave it a friend to look after, not seeing it or the friend for the next thirteen years, until he arranged for it to be included in a public exhibition.
  • 1841 - The painting was included in a public exhibition.
  • 1842 - Bought by the recently-formed National Gallery, London for £600, as inventory number 186, where it remains. The shutters have gone, along with the original frame.