A (photo-) blog about the beautiful Belgian town Bruges as seen through the very two eyes of an inhabitant. Sharp, witty, and... always admiring.
30-07-2006
Jan van Eyck
It's not just on the Jan van Eyck Square that there is a statue of the famed painter, of whom it was taught for a long time that he was the inventor of the oil-painting technique. In the inner court of the Bruges Academy, in the Katelijne street, there is also a statue of the man. What's more, this one is the older one of the two. This white marble statue is the work of Jan Robert Calloigne who, in 1829 and 1830 was Director of the Bruges Academy. The statue was at first installed in the Academy's garden when the Academy was still in the Porters' Lodge on Academy street. In 1878, Calloigne's Jan van Eyck was removed to make room for the one made by Hebdrik Pickery (see previous comment and photo). According to one source, a bigger statue was found to be desirable. According to another source, the marble statue made by Calloigne would not withstand freezing temperatures and... it was moved near the Burg, a few paces from the spot where Jan van Eyck was buried in 1441 - that is, in the St-Donaas cathedral, demolished in 1800. It seems that as long as it was standing on the Burg, care was taken to surrounded the marble sculpture with protective layers of straw at the onset of each winter, in order to shield it from wind and cold. Since then, the Calloigne statue was moved once more, to the protected the inner court of the Bruges Academy, now on the Katelijne street. After all its perambulations, might the white marble Jan van Eyck, which had no less than four different sites over the last two centuries have, at last, found its final destination?
Reacties op bericht (0)
E-mail me
Push this button to e-mail me.
Guestbook
Push this button if you like to leave a note in my guestbook
