Metaphor And Worship—the Study Of Ghent Altarpiece

This paper takes the altar paintings of Flanders artists Hubert Van Eyck and Jan Van Eyck's work in St.Paul's Cathedral at the end of the fourteenth century as the main research object,to study the iconographic meaning of the painting and discuss the connection between the “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” and the medieval way of viewing in the picture of the meaning of images and devout activities.First of all,it reviews the historical situation and the degree of development of art in Europe,especially the Burgundy region in the fourteenth century,and then combs the existing ideas and research of this painting in academic history.Then,combining the life and work of the artist Jan Van Eyck and his brothers,as well as his experience of being appointed by the Philip the Good as a court painter,discuss the naturalistic aesthetic tendency fostered by the delicate expressive techniques of painters like him in altar paintings at the end of the Middle Ages.The focus is on the imagery of the most important piece of the “Adoration of the Mystic Lamb” in this twelve-panel altar painting.The religious image of the worship in this panel is a metaphor for the transformation of secular life and eternal heaven.So the interaction between the viewer in the church and the painting itself is also included in the viewing system as the worshippers in the painting.Under such a structure,we will further discuss Jan Van Eyck's representation of the light,shadow and space of the picture and the expression of the concept of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,to explore the extent to which Ghent altarpiece was established a natural or symbolic paradigm.The appendix illustrates another work The Arnolfini Marriage by Jan Van Eyck,The painter uses metaphorical symbolism to show more life-like scenes beyond religious paintings.