French Literature Reviews - 2026
Anne-Marie Lecoq, Le Passage de Jan van Eyck. Le Portrait des Arnolfini et quelques réflexions sur l'histoire de l'art passée et présente
Art and Visual Culture
Acquired by the National Gallery in London in 1842, Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait has remained an enigma for art historians ever since.
Indeed, the subject of the painting has sparked numerous hypotheses: is it a marriage scene, a betrothal, or simply the portrait of a wealthy bourgeois couple? Is the man truly Giovanni Arnolfini, a merchant from Lucca well-known in Flanders during the 15th century, as certain archives seem to suggest? Or perhaps some other member of his family? Could the work actually be a self-portrait of the artist alongside his wife, Margaret? And what if the young woman was not pregnant at all, despite what her prominent belly suggests? As for the painter's prominent Latin signature right in the center of the canvas, how should we interpret its phrasing, which remains unique in the history of painting?
In this groundbreaking book, Anne-Marie Lecoq offers a fascinating overview of the shifting interpretations put forward over the decades, driven by every detail of the painting and its supposed symbolism, ultimately presenting—at the risk of surprising the reader—her own hypothesis regarding Jan van Eyck's intentions.
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An article by Laurent Jenny on this book can be read on en-attendant-nadeau.fr…
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Literary Scholars and Archivists: The Beginnings
The earliest archival discoveries
Other documents
The "two-panel cover" and the Christina van der Wijck affair
Van Eyck as Witness to the Arnolfini Marriage: A Thesis Untangled
Erwin Panofsky's interpretation
Doubts regarding marriage: an engagement?
Doubts regarding the individuals: other Arnolfinis?
A vow of fidelity?
A proxy management agreement?
A morganatic marriage?
Van Eyck as Witness to Patriarchal Bourgeois Practices: An Ideological Thesis
Folklore, sexuality, and social status
The era of gender studies
Van Eyck Painted by Himself: The Return of an Unsustainable Thesis
Louis Dimier's lost offensive
The battle of the portraits
The new life of the Van Eyck spouses
The Arnolfinis: An invention of archivists
June 1434: A happy event
"The setting of birth"
Portrait in utero and a double-meaning signature
The ultimate meaning of the story
Jan van Eyck, happy father and glorious lover
A plea for common sense
The Master's Passage
The studio visit
Michelangelo at the Farnesina
The circulation of anecdotes about ancient painters
A painter "somewhat well-versed in letters"
The signatures of Jan van Eyck. Margaret van Eyck and Jan de Leeuw
The painter conquering time. "Léal Souvenir"
The glory of the painter before the memory of the donor. The Ghent Altarpiece
The artist's revenge. The Virgin of Canon Van der Paele
False modesty
A Tour de Force
The signature is not on the wall
The painter is not in the mirror
The mirror is an emblem
The room is uninhabitable
The storehouse of realia
A single portrait?
Conclusion
Epilogue. Oh my God! Van Eyck was here
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Anne-Marie Lecoq, honorary research engineer at the Collège de France, was a collaborator of André Chastel and Marc Fumaroli. As a historian of ideas expressed through visible forms, she has focused particularly on the imagery surrounding two singular figures: the king and the artist. She has also explored theories of art from the Renaissance to the 18th century, and more recently, the history of art historiography. Alongside numerous articles, she has published La Peinture dans la peinture (1983 and 1987), in collaboration with Pierre Georgel; François Ier imaginaire. Symbolique et politique à l’aube de la Renaissance française (1987); La Leçon de peinture du duc de Bourgogne. Fénelon, Poussin et l’enfance perdue (2003); Le Bouclier d’Achille. Un tableau qui bouge (2010); and L’Atelier de la grâce, in collaboration with Alain Mérot (2025).
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Jan van Eyck stands as one of the most celebrated masters of Early Netherlandish painting, renowned for his revolutionary use of oil paint and remarkable attention to optical realism. In this volume, art historian Anne-Marie Lecoq examines the enduring enigma of the master's famous fifteenth-century masterpiece, tracing how generations of scholars, archivists, and theorists have decoded its rich visual symbolism. By charting these evolving critical approaches, the author places the work within the broader tradition of art historiography, inviting readers to reconsider the complex relationship between visual representation, historical context, and modern interpretation.
The book will prove particularly valuable to students and scholars of art history, cultural studies, and visual culture, as well as general readers fascinated by Flemish painting. It addresses fundamental questions regarding authorial intent, the methodology of iconographical analysis, and the ways in which historical artifacts acquire multiple meanings over time. By combining rigorous archival inquiry with a critical look at past scholarship, Lecoq offers an engaging resource for anyone seeking to understand how masterpieces are continuously reinvented through the lens of changing intellectual traditions and critical perspectives.