Madonna of the Church

Jan Van Eyck’s motivations for painting Madonna of the Church seems obvious; to convey a religious idea and to confirm her sacred role in the Christian religion. How he does this can be explained by the way he portrays her in the painting. The predominant figure of the painting, as the title implies, is Madonna holding a baby standing inside the church. The shape of the painting itself is like an arched doorway, or a window, either of which gives the impression of us viewers peering inside. Perhaps this accentuates the holiness and importance of Madonna, because we viewers are almost “too ordinary” to face her blatantly. That the small figures in the background who seem to be carefully glancing into the room where Madonna is standing agrees with that idea. Intensifying the aura of majesty are her grand jeweled crown and blue fabric thickly draped over her figure. We discussed in class how blue paint was rare and expensive, so using the blue paint to clothe her suggests how magnificent Madonna is. She looks serene while she holds the baby, understood to be baby Jesus, which implies her motherly nature in accordance with Christianity. The baby, although he is supposed to be smaller in comparison to Madonna, he is quite disproportionately sized. Jan Van Eyck could be playing off of this idea, and cleverly using the opportunity to emphasize Madonna by drawing the baby smaller than he actually should be. This style of portrayal is also seen in the small arched doorways behind Madonna. She clearly cannot fit through the doors, which probably implies that she was symbolically enlarged to confirm her importance in this painting.
There is an interesting paradox in this painting. In the background, hidden between the gold-hued structures inside the church, is a crucified Christ hanging in front of the windows. If the baby in Madonna’s arms is indeed baby Jesus, there could not be a crucified Christ in this painting. This is perhaps the foreshadowing of the crucifixion of Christ. That, however, seems to be a minor detail since the focus of the painting is so explicitly on Madonna.