Madonna in the Church

Jan Van Eyck's Madonna in the Church (1390-1440) is a great example of the descriptive quality of Northern Art. The architecture of the church is very detailed, so much so that one can immediately categorize the church as late Gothic architecture, with its pointed arches, ribbed vaulting, and very ornamented arcades. He even gives the same attention to the details outside the church which are seen through the clerestory. The light coming through the clerestory is not lost within the painting, it helps define the detailed architecture through shadows and highlights. It's a little hard to see with the Madonna's clothing, but the child's garb shows the drapery folds. Her crown is very ornamented and seems to be painstakingly represented and differentiates itself from the similar color of the church itself. The painting also shows how Northern Art does not use the Cartesian notion of a single, fixed viewpoint. I tried drawing the orthogonal lines and I ended up with a central line that is off centered and through the crucifix. It’s a little ironic that the central figure of the painting is Madonna and her child and that there is a crucifix in the background. I believe the anachronism showed here furthers the argument that Northern Art is more about describing than narrating or story-telling. Yes, it still references the Bible, but I think it’s less about the story of Madonna.There is a frame around the painting, but the painting seems to continue off the canvas, which is seen with the Madonna looking off to an object that is outside the physical frame of the painting.