Mahonri M. Young (1877-1957),
Man After Jan Van Eyck, crayon, 9 13/16 x 10 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, purchase/gift of the Mahonri M. Young Estate, 1959.
On this day in 1441, Jan van Eyck, a famous Flemish painter of the Northern Renaissance, died in Bruges, Belgium. Van Eyck worked for a count and then later a duke, which kept him well funded throughout his career. His particularly notable artistic skill is found in his pictorial illusionism, achieved through marvelous manipulations of oil paints. Two of his most famous artworks, the Arnolfini Portrait (1434) and the Ghent Alterpiece (1432), are excellent examples of this exceptional talent. A masterful and successful artist all around, Jan Van Eyck remains one of the most important artists to come out of the Northern Renaissance. This particular artwork is a crayon copy by Mahonri Young of a man from one of Jan van Eyck’s works. The striking resemblance between this copy and Van Eyck’s The Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele (1434-36) indicate that Mahonri Young was copying the face of Van der Paele from this work.