Opening Doors is the first book of its kind: a comprehensive study of the emergence and evolution of the Netherlandish triptych from the early fifteenth through the early seventeenth centuries. The modern term "triptych" did not exist during the period Lynn Jacobs discusses. Rather, contemporary French, Dutch, and Latin documents employ a very telling description-they call the triptych a "painting with doors." Using this term as her springboard, Jacobs considers its implications for the structure and meaning of the triptych. The fundamental nature of the format created doors that established thresholds, boundaries, and interconnections between physical parts of the triptych-the center and wings, the interior and the exterior-and between types of meaning, the sacred and the earthly, different narrative moments, different spaces, different levels of status, and, ultimately, different worlds. Moving chronologically from early triptychs such as Campin's Merode Triptych and Van Eyck's Dresden Triptych to sixteenth-century works by Bosch, and closing with a discussion of Rubens, Jacobs considers how artists negotiated the idea of the threshold. From her analysis of Campin's ambiguous divisions between the space represented across the panels, to Van der Weyden's invention of the "arch motif" that organized relations between the viewer and the painting, to Van der Goes's complex hierarchical structures, to Bosch's unprecedentedly unified spaces, Jacobs shows us how Netherlandish artists' approach to the format changed and evolved, culminating in the early seventeenth century with Rubens's great Antwerp altarpieces.

About the Author

Lynn F. Jacobs is Professor of Art at the University of Arkansas.

Reviews

"This remarkable, lucid book takes on a big and complex subject, still somewhat invisible to scholarship. It fully reconsiders a major late medieval art form: the triptych format of hinged altarpieces. The triptych-along with its components, oil paint technique and refined oak carving-rose to Golden Age prominence in fifteenth-century Flemish art. Offering an impressive survey of this great artistic achievement, Opening Doors truly lives up to its name and contributes fresh new interpretations. Scholars and their students will use this book as a standard work for many years to come."

-Larry Silver,University of Pennsylvania

"Admirably broad in its sweep-from Jan van Eyck to Rubens-this book tackles a fundamentally important question: how the form of the triptych affected its meaning. Noting that archival evidence reveals that this art form was envisioned as a panel covered by doors, Lynn Jacobs develops the idea of the 'miraculous threshold.' She explores the rich and complex relationships between the triptych's exterior and interior, and between the central panel, the most important from a theological point of view, and the wings. This book will undoubtedly have a major impact on the field."

-Diane Wolfthal,Rice University

"With her characteristic meticulous scholarship and intellectual verve, Lynn Jacobs opens doors in our understanding of the triptych, one of the defining formats of early Netherlandish painting. Using a wealth of contemporary sources and her sensitive readings of individual works, she convincingly demonstrates how 'paintings with doors,' as triptychs were termed, structured and generated meaning for artists and audiences alike. Painters from Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck to Hieronymus Bosch and, later, Peter Paul Rubens exploited the triptych's thresholds, those physical distinctions between center and wings or inside and outside panels, to create often elegant narrative and symbolic programs. Jacobs has written a richly rewarding, indeed essential, book for anyone seeking to comprehend early Netherlandish art."

-Jeffrey Chipps Smith,University of Texas at Austin

"Jacobs's fascinating book should reopen scholarly interest in these marvelous paintings with doors."

-Henry Luttikhuizen Historians of Netherlandish Art

"Through careful and insightful interpretation of the extant visual material and contemporary terminology, Jacobs's argument offers a fresh perspective on this particularly Netherlandish altarpiece format."

-Nenagh Hathaway Burlington Magazine

Book Information
ISBN 9780271048406
Author Lynn F. Jacobs
Format Hardback
Page Count 328
Imprint Pennsylvania State University Press
Publisher Pennsylvania State University Press
Weight(grams) 2087g
Dimensions(mm) 241mm * 267mm * 29mm