Jan van Eyck: the Play of Realism manages to be both scholarly and accessible to non-specialist readers. This is not a biography of van Eyck nor is it a comprehensive analysis of all of the painter's work. Harbison addresses a number of issues that played a role in forming van Eyck's astonishing realism and technical virtuosity. The early Netherlandish painters, such as Dirk Bouts, Roger van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Hans Memling, and Petrus Christus, are characterized by their crystalline light, saturated colors, and obsession with clearly-rendered detail. However, Jan van Eyck's realism, especially his sensitively wrought faces, his evocative landscapes, and his almost miraculous ability to render the textures of brocade, metal, glass, armor, and architecture, was the never-surpassed inspiration for so many of his contemporaties and followers. Harbison explores many of the influences that informed van Eyck's style, such as the conflict between institutional and personal Christian piety, the newly-emerging devotions to the Virgin and the Sacred Heart, the interests of his patrons (mostly merchants and court and Church functionaries, rather than his nominal employer, Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy) in how they presented themselves to the world, the practice of pilgrimage, and others. He also discusses the somewhat surprising influence of Byzantine icons on van Eyck's later work.
If I have any quibbles with this book they would be that Harbison presents little analysis of the Ghent Altarpiece and makes almost no mention of Jan van Eyck's brother Hubert and the extent to which the two artists may have collaborated on some works, notably the Ghent Altarpiece. Harbison devotes a chapter to this work, but instead of the detailed analysis he gives to other works, such as the Arnolfini double portrait and the six surviving Virgin-and-Child paintings, he confines himself to a brief discussion of how the theology of the Ghent Altarpiece is different (more traditional and institutional) than that of the later religious works with their concern for personal devotion.
This is not the book to read if you want a biography of van Eyck (though there is only scant information known about his life) or a chronological painting-by-painting analysis of all of the artist's work. These are not the intentions of the author. However, the book is an excellent exploration of the sources of the realist tradition in fifteenth century Netherlandish art, and the sumptuous color photographs, especially the enlargements of crucial details, make this book a feast for the eyes.
