Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites

by Alison Smith, Susan Foister (Contributor), Anna Koopstra (Contributor)

In 1842, Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait (1434) was acquired by the National Gallery in London. It quickly exerted an influence on British artists, none more so than the young painters of the nascent Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, who were drawn to van Eyck’s luminous palette, attention to detail, and refined manipulation of oil paints. This book presents the Arnolfini Portrait with a selection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings it inspired. The authors explore how Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Sir John Everett Millais, and William Holman Hunt, among others, were influenced by the Arnolfini Portrait , informing their belief in empirical observation and inspiring them to explore how everyday objects could be endowed with symbolic meanings. 
 

Published by National Gallery Company/Distributed by Yale University Press

Exhibition National Gallery, London
(10/02/17–04/02/18)

Genres: Art, Art History

96 pages, Paperback

Published November 28, 2017

About the author

There is more than one Alison Smith in the Goodreads database. This entry is for Alison^^^^^^^^^^Smith, curator at the National Portrait Gallery..

Reviews

[Bill38silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely glossy book with great photos, many full page, of some colourful paintings from my favourite art movement : the Pre-Raphaelites. I attended the exhibition at the National Gallery in 2017/2018 which is where I purchased the book. Its title refers to the clever mirror feature in Van Eyck's 15th century masterpiece and how members of the 19th century pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood used mirror reflections in some of their works.

This book is easy to read and not overblown in its interpretation of many beautiful works of art. The only negative is there is some repetition in the text as several writers come at the subject from different perspectives and frequent overlap in the main text with the descriptions in the separate sections of notes on individual pictures and short biographies of the named artists.

Overall, a splendid reflection of an enjoyable exhibition.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book with interesting information concerning the impact of Van Eyck on the Pre-Raphaelites.