Portrait Of A Man In A Turban
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''Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?)'' (previously ''Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban'')Acres (2013), p. 7 is the title given to a small oil painting by the Early Netherlandish painter
Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( ; ; – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Nort ...
, completed in 1433 in
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
. The inscription at the top of the frame, which is original, reads the first known instnce of his motto ''Als Ich Can'' (intended as the pun "as I/Eyck can", perhaps implying "as only I, van Eyck, can")Hall (2014), p. 43Capron, Emma.
A guide to Jan van Eyck's confident self portrait
. London:
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2025
was a common autograph for van Eyck but here is the first known usage and unusually is large and prominent. This and the sitter's unusually direct and confrontational gaze have been taken as an indication that the work is a self-portrait. Van Eyck's portrait of his wife in
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
was probably a
pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...
to this painting, although her portrait is dated 1439 and larger. It has been proposed that van Eyck created the portrait to store in his workshop so that he could use it to display his abilities (and social status, given the fine clothes evident in the portrait) to potential clients. However, his reputation was such in 1433 that he was already highly sought after for commissioned work. The panel has been in the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London, since 1851, and is hung alongside van Eyck's ''
Arnolfini Portrait ''The Arnolfini Portrait'' (or ''The Arnolfini Wedding'', ''The Arnolfini Marriage'', the ''Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife'', or other titles) is an oil painting on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, dated 14 ...
''. The panel has been in England since its acquisition by Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, probably during his exile in
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
from 1642 to 1644.


Description


Portrait

The painting is one third life-size with the sitter in three-quarters profile. Like all van Eyck's portraits, it provides an unsparing, detailed analysis of the subject. His stubble is painted in brown and whitish-grey paint, his face is heavily lined with the onset of middle age, and his
ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. Its lengthy grinding and washing process makes the natural pigment quite valuable—roughly ten times more expensive than the stone it comes fr ...
blue eyes are semi-bloodshot.Campbell (1998), p. 214 He is dressed in a dark purple and brown robe which is lined with brown fur at the neck. He has a piercing and confident gaze and looks directly at the viewer. The man's weary expression is achieved through a combination of his tightly pursed wide mouth and the framing of his face by the headdress. The overall impression is of a man who, one scholar says, "see things – himself included – in close-up, but without losing track of the bigger picture". Typically for van Eyck, the head is a little large in relation to the torso.Campbell (1998), p. 216 Examination using microscope and infra-red shows areas of
underdrawing Underdrawing is a preparatory drawing done on a painting ground before paint is applied, for example, an imprimatura or an underpainting. Underdrawing was used extensively by 15th century painters like Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. Thes ...
(preparatory sketches) of the contours of the nose and jaw bone.


Headdress

The unusually large headdress is painted in
vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...
red and forms the centrepiece of the painting. The depiction of its lines and folds in such an elaborate fashion allowed the artist to display his confidence in his abilities. According to the critic Teju Cole, "each wrinkle of the cloth, each fold, each soft glimmer of light across the soft weave, is painted with the holy precision Jan van Eyck helped introduce to art".Cole, Teju.
Why Is This Man Wearing A Turban?
. '' The New Inquiry'', 18 July 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2025
However, the man is not, as it is commonly thought, wearing a
turban A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Commun ...
, but rather a chaperon. The
sash A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the human body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else encircling the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, ...
or
cornette A cornette is a piece of headwear for religious sisters. It is essentially a type of wimple consisting of a large starched piece of white cloth that is folded upward in such a way as to create the resemblance of horns () on the wearer's head ...
that would normally hang down is tied up over the top, giving it the look of a turban.Harbison (1991), p. 243 Perhaps it is shown in this was a having the sash tied up would sensible precaution if it was worn while painting. According to the art historian Craig Harbison, the expensive cloth of the headdress is a further clue that the work is a self portrait, as much like the gilded frame, it indicates wealth and bestows prestige on the sitter. A similar chaperon is worn by a figure in the background of his 1435 '' Madonna of Chancellor Rolin'' and in the 1438 '' Portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini''.Harbison (1991), p. 114 File:Jan van Eyck 074a.jpg, Detail from van Eyck's '' Madonna of Chancellor Rolin'' (1435), showing a figure in the distance wearing a similar red headdress.
Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, Paris File:Jan van Eyck - Bildnis eines Mannes (aus der Familie Arnolfini), 1438 - 1441, 523A.jpg, Jan van Eyck, '' Portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini'', c. 1438.
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin The (, Painting Gallery) is an art museum in Berlin, Germany, and the museum where the main selection of paintings belonging to the Berlin State Museums (''Staatliche Museen zu Berlin'') is displayed. It was first opened in 1830, and the cur ...


Frame

The original frame survives, and unusually for the period it is gilded. The side mouldings were carved with the grain. Those at the top and bottom ends of the panel were carved separately, also with the grain.Billinge (1997), p. 19 The vertical sides are formed from the same single piece of wood as the central panel. The frame contains the painted inscription "" ('Jan van Eyck made me on 21 October 1433') at the bottom, and the motto "" ('As well as I can') at the top.Campbell (1998), p. 212 The latter wording is a pun on van Eyck's name and appears on other paintings of his, always written in Greek letters, though not ever so large and prominent. As on other van Eyck frames, the letters are painted to appear carved.Borchert (2008), p. 36


Identity of the sitter

The sitter is often thought to be van Eyck himself, though there is no documentary evidence for this. His direct gaze may be the result of the artist studying himself in a mirror, a theory further reinforced by the face that his hands, features that van Eyck typically emphasised, are not shown.Ferrali (2013), p. 86 The costume is appropriate for a man of van Eyck's social position, and the motto is his personal one, otherwise only appearing on two surviving religious paintings, two more known only from copies, and the portrait of his wife. In none of these is it as prominent as here, a primary reason, along with the very direct but bloodshot gaze, why the work is usually viewed as a self-portrait. The emphasis on the sitter's sharp and keenly intelligent bloodshot eyes is a further but subtle clue, one found again in
Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...
's self-portrait of 1500.Nash (2008), p. 154 Some art historians view the work as a form of calling card for prospective clients, in which, according to the art historian Susie Nash, van Eyck may be saying, "look at what I can do with paint, how lifelike I can make my figures". Autographing and dating paintings in the early 15th century was unusual. Even when dates were added they tended to be the year of completion only, whereas here van Eyck spells out a specific date, 21 October. As too few of his paintings survive to judge his prolificacy (the confidently attributed and extant works number somewhere in the low twenties), the degree of detail and skill indicates that they took months rather than days to complete. Thus, the date may have served as a boast to potential commissioners rather than as a matter of fact. Since the motto ''Als Ich Can'' appears in a number of van Eyck's later works, but not as prominently, it is believed that he is challenging other artists to try and do better. Although written in Greek lettering the phrase is originally Flemish and art historians believe that having a Flemish phrase in written in Greek script implies van Eyck saw himself in "competition with the ancients as well as with his contemporaries". Regardless of his reasoning, it can be assumed that the phrase is a sign of van Eyck's self-confidence. Art historians have identified three other possible Van Eyck self portraits: in the now lost " Just Judges" panel of the ''
Ghent Altarpiece The ''Ghent Altarpiece'', also called the ''Adoration of the Mystic Lamb'' (), is a very large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420s and completed by 1432, and it ...
'' (completed c. 1432), in the miniature reflection on the armour in the '' Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele'' (c. 1434—1436), and in the reflection in the mirror in the ''
Arnolfini Portrait ''The Arnolfini Portrait'' (or ''The Arnolfini Wedding'', ''The Arnolfini Marriage'', the ''Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife'', or other titles) is an oil painting on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, dated 14 ...
'' (1434). However the art historian Lorne Campbell, while recognising some facial similarity, considers the portraits on the van der Paele and Arnolfin panels to be "too small to give any indication of his appearance".


Relation to the ''Portrait of Margaret van Eyck''

Some earlier collectors and art historians speculated that the panel might once have formed half of a
diptych A diptych (, ) is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by a hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a ...
with van Eyck's 1439 portrait of his wife Margaret, his only female portrait, which is also dominated by red hues (in this case a fur-lined red dress) and also shows an elaborate headdress. Both the portrait of Margaret and the male portrait in London were completed in Bruges, but there is no record of their commissions. It is thus believed that Margaret's portrait was created to mark a personal occasion in their relationship, and was intended to hang as a
pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...
of one of van Eyck's self-portraits.Borchert (2008), p. 42 However, it is not known which self-portrait was the original pendant to the portrait of Margaret, given that a number of candidates are known from records but are now lost. Another possible candidate for the pendant self-portrait is that mentioned in inventory records when two of van Eyck's works were acquired before 1769 by the chapel of the Guild of Saint Luke.Borchert (2008), 149 Some art historians, supporting the theory of a now lost diptych, mention a second lost potential self-portrait known to be similar in form to the painting in London.Harbison (1991), p. 208


References


Sources

* Acres, Alfred. "Jan Van Eyck Within His Art". London: Reaktion Books, 2013. * Borchert, Till-Holger. ''Van Eyck''. London: Taschen, 2008. * Campbell, Lorne. ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings''. London: National Gallery Catalogues (new series), 1998. . . . . (also titled ''The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools'') * De La Croix, Horst, et al. ''Gardner's Art Through the Ages''. Harcourt, 1991. * Ferrari, Simone. ''Van Eyck: Masters of Art''. Munich: Prestel, 2013. * Joyce. Hetty.
Jan van Eyck’s AΛC IXH XAN: Art and Eros at the Court of Philip the Good
. ''Source: Notes in the History of Art'', University of Chicago Press, volume 39, Number 2, Winter 2020. DOI: 10.1086/706358 * Hall, James. ''The Self-portrait: A Cultural History''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. * Harbison, Craig, ''Jan van Eyck, The Play of Realism'', Reaktion Books, London, 1991. * Meiss. Millard. "'Nicholas Albergati' and the Chronology of Jan van Eyck's Portraits". ''The Burlington Magazine'', volume 94, number 590, May 1952. pp. 137–146. * Nash, Susie. ''Northern Renaissance art''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. * Janson, Horst W., and Penelope J. E. Davies. Janson's History of Art: the Western Tradition. London: Pearson Education, 2016. * Billinge, Rachel. "Methods and materials of Northern European painting in the National Gallery, 1400–1550". ''National Gallery Technical Bulletin'', volume 18, Early Northern European Painting, 1997, pp. 6–55. * Van Der Elst, Joseph. ''The Last Flowering of the Middle Ages''. Kessinger Publishing, 2005.


External links


Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?)
at the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London
A guide to Jan van Eyck's confident self portrait
by Emma Capron, Associate Curator of Renaissance Painting at the National Gallery, via
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Jan van Eyck, ''Portrait of a Man in a Red Turban'' (Self-Portrait?), 1433
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via
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{{Authority control 1433 paintings Portraits by Jan van Eyck Paintings in the National Gallery, London 15th-century portraits Works believed to be self-portraits