This Insanely Detailed Painting Uncovered His Tragic Illness

This piece is called Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele by Jan van Eyck. Joris van der Paele was a wealthy canon of St Donatian Church in Bruges and the man who commissioned this painting. He was very rich but very unwell and thought he was going to die and so he hoped that in creating this painting he could keep his soul alive forever in heaven.

We’re placed in a church with Mary, baby Jesus, St. Donatian, St. George and Joris van der Paele (and a parakeet). Van der Paele appears to have been praying just moments ago. Perhaps the scene before us depicts a vision that came to the Canon during one of his prayer sessions. He likely created this painting also as a sort of medical certificate to excuse him from his duties at church that he was unable to carry out due to his ill health.

Jan van Eyck has injected so much detail in this painting that doctors today have been able to diagnose the canons exact ailments: polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis. I hope you all love looking at all of the amazing detail in this painting like I do. Thanks for watching!

Credits:

Investigations by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

African Drums (Sting) by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Arcadia - Wonders by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

smoke effect from Vecteezy

Have you ever looked at a painting
and thought how is this even real

like how did someone create this
centuries ago

but it continues to resonate
so strongly with us today.

If we could only fully understand
what it's trying to tell us.

This piece is called
"Madonna with Canon Joris Van der Paele"

by Jan van Eyck.

And this is Joris Van der Paele,

a wealthy canon
of St. Donatians Church in Brugge

and the man who commissioned
this painting, Joris Van der Paele,

was very rich but very unwell

and thought he was going to die

and so he did what anyone would have done

in the 15th century

with limited time and a lot of cash:

he reached out
to the top artist of his time

to get a portrait made,

hoping it would keep his soul alive
in heaven forever.

But what happened since then
would have brought him to his knees.

if he wasn't already there.

Thanks to Jan van Eyck's
obsession with detail,

doctors today can diagnose
his medicalcondition

just by looking at this painting.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

We we're placed
in the interior of a church.

Our eyes are immediately drawn
to a woman

holding a baby, holding a parrot (?)

a parakeet, what?
It's actually a parakeet.

Oh! right!

This is the Virgin Mary
and the baby Jesus

sitting on a throne.

On the left, you see Saint Donatian,

a painting was destined to hang
in Saint Donatian's Church

which was dedicated to him.

He's got a miter on his head.

Can we just take a second to appreciate
how detailed this painting is?

All right, back to what I was saying.

He's got a miter on his head,

a jerweled cross in his left hand

and a wheel with five lit candles
in his right hand.

He wears a long blue cloak

embroidered with images
of St Paul and St Peter.

Does this guy look a little
like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo

or, I don't know,
I see a resemblance.

I love all of the intricate detail
Jan van Eick injects into this painting

but I especially love
these fun little carvings

to the right and left of the throne

that represent stories
from the Old Testament

We can see Adam and Eve

carved into the left and right arms
of the throne, respectively.

Above the carving of Eve.

we see Samson opening the lion's jaw.

Above the carving of Adam

there is Cain beating Abel
to death with a club.

OK, maybe that last one
is slightly less fun.

Since this is set inside of a church

Mary and Jesus are placed right where
the altar piece would go.

Mary's red robe spills
onto the ornate carpet

on the steps leading up to the throne.

The two hold a mini bouquet
of redn white and blue flowers

and there's a bird below it

believed to be a rose ringed parakeet.

We don't know exactly why Jan van Eyck
included the bird

but it could be a nod to the Announciation,

since the bird's chirp sounds a lot
like the word

The artist probably used
a real bird as a model,

considering how detailed the bird is.

Given how rare parakeets
were in 15th century Europe,

it shows just how well connected
Jan van Eick was, to get one as model.

Mary gazes calmly and fondly
down at the Canon,

who's kneeling on theground.

He's wearing a white surplus and
holding an open prayer book in his hands.

You can tell how much he values the book

because he's placed a cloth
between his hands and the book

to keep it protected.

He looks up from the book marking
his place with a pair of spectacles

suggesting he was praying
just moments ago.

He might have been praying
to the Virgin Mary

as the inscription
on the top of the frame

translates to

"For she is more beautiful than the Sun

"and excels every
constellation of the stars,"

"Compared with the light,
she is found to be superior,

"for she is a reflection of eternal light,

"a spotless mirror of the working of God

"and an image of his goodness.

These words come from the Book of Wisdom,

found in some versions
of the Christian Bible.

It could be that Joris van der Paele
is praising Mary

and hopes she'll help him
secure a spot in heaven.

Just above van der Paele is St George,

Hhs name Saint.

Since Joris
is the Dutch form of George.

the younger man raises his
helmet and lifts his right hand

to introduce Joris to Mary and Jesus.

We can see the word Adonai
inscribed on his breastplate

which means Lord in Hebrew.

For some reason I really like

Jan van Eick's depiction of St George

as he comes across
a bit awkward and unsure of himself

and he seems to have
accidentally stepped on the Canon