This is the most detailed painting in history — Transcript

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1. 0:00This is the reflection of a window
2. 0:02painted inside a jewel
3. 0:04on the chest of an angel
4. 0:05with a pretty weird face.
5. 0:07More about that later.
6. 0:08Inside one of the 12 panels of the Ghent Altarpiece,
7. 0:12a behemoth of a painting
8. 0:14with wings that open and close
9. 0:16and crammed with hundreds of details
10. 0:18so precise you can zoom forever.
11. 0:21So let's do just that.
12. 0:23I'm going to show you tiny hairs
13. 0:25weird faces
14. 0:26and crazy reflections
15. 0:28to reveal that all these details aren't just random flexes
16. 0:31from an extremely skilled painter.
17. 0:33No, they're serving one single purpose
18. 0:37and it's all about
19. 0:39you.
20. 0:39Back to our jewel. Because this tiny window isn't just any window.
21. 0:44It's this one, a window in a side chapel
22. 0:46of the Cathedral of Saint Bavo in Ghent, Belgium.
23. 0:50You see, Jan van Eyck painted his jumbo altarpiece back in 1432
24. 0:55for a man called Joris Vijd,
25. 0:58a merchant with deep pockets and great taste,
26. 1:00who wanted something spectacular for his family chapel.
27. 1:04And Van Eyck was like:
28. 1:05You want spectacular? I'll give you spectacular.
29. 1:08So what did he do?
30. 1:09He synced the lighting of the painting
31. 1:11to the lighting of the chapel.
32. 1:13So the scenes inside those panels are lit as if
33. 1:16by the real sun streaming through those very windows,
34. 1:20meaning that when you stand in front of the painting,
35. 1:23you and the figures share the same light source.
36. 1:27That's insane.
37. 1:28Van Eyck painted the room into the gym.
38. 1:31It's a tiny piece of evidence that proves the painting
39. 1:34knows where it is. And it doesn't stop with the jewel.
40. 1:38Let's close the wings of the altarpiece
41. 1:40and have a look at the Annunciation.
42. 1:44It's the moment where Gabriel
43. 1:46announces to Mary that she's about to conceive the Messiah.
44. 1:49That's a pretty big deal.
45. 1:51Gabriel has colorful wings that look a bit like watermelons,
46. 1:55and he's holding a gorgeous lily, a symbol of purity.
47. 1:59And on the other side, Mary is gazing upward with a dove
48. 2:03awkwardly floating above her and staring right at us.
49. 2:07I personally feel doves are the rats of the sky.
50. 2:10However, in this case it symbolizes the Holy Spirit.
51. 2:14Anyway, before we move on to the insane lighting in this scene,
52. 2:18you probably want to know about the watermelon wings.
53. 2:21Well, it's hard to tell exactly why they look like this,
54. 2:25but we do know that this pair of colorful fly arms
55. 2:28isn't the only colorful pair out there. At all.
56. 2:32There's loads of them.
57. 2:33And art historians best guess is that they refer to rainbows,
58. 2:38because the Bible says that rainbows are the link
59. 2:41between God and the earth, just like angels are.
60. 2:45Hence... watermelon wings.
61. 2:48Back to the Annunciation.
62. 2:50Look at the middle.
63. 2:51It's empty.
64. 2:52Well, empty-ish.
65. 2:53Zoom in and you'll see a cityscape with tiny figures
66. 2:57casually going about their day
67. 2:59in the streets of 15th century Ghent, while right behind them
68. 3:03one of the key moments in Christianity is happening.
69. 3:06But what's also interesting are the wooden frames of these panels.
70. 3:11Yeah. Have a good look at them.
71. 3:13And now look at the floor.
72. 3:15See it?
73. 3:16Van Eyck painted the shadows of the frames onto the floor.
74. 3:20And yes, they to match the chapel's light.
75. 3:24So imagine standing here
76. 3:26in 1432, in front of this mind bending artwork.
77. 3:29It would feel like Mary and the angel and the Holy Spirit
78. 3:32weren't stuck inside the world of the painting.
79. 3:35No, it would feel like they were just standing there
80. 3:38with you, like heaven breaking into the chapel.
81. 3:42And you know what else is breaking into the chapel?
82. 3:45Adam's right foot.
83. 3:46Because if you open the wings and zoom in,
84. 3:50you'll see that it's standing on the edge of the frame,
85. 3:53toes poking out, and on his legs you can see the individual hairs,
86. 3:58just like his eyelashes or his beard and the wild hair.
87. 4:03And just above sits a little bas relief showing Adam and Eve's
88. 4:07two sons, Cain, a farmer, and Abel, a shepherd,
89. 4:12each making sacrifices from their own fields to God.
90. 4:17And on the other side of the altarpiece
91. 4:20there's Eve showing off her piece of forbidden fruit
92. 4:24and leaning against the frame, and above her head.
93. 4:27there's the two kids again.
94. 4:29This time Cain is killing Abel with an animal's jawbone.
95. 4:33The very first murder
96. 4:34in human history, at least according to the Bible.
97. 4:38Abel died, and the murderer, Cain became the father of us all.
98. 4:43Explains a lot.
99. 4:44The detail in all these panels is insane.
100. 4:48Van Eyck is using shadow and light to play with our senses.
101. 4:53Vision first, but also sound.
102. 4:56Yeah, you heard me right.
103. 4:57We've already met these awkward angels.
104. 5:00Their faces are weird, but their outfits are stunning.
105. 5:04They're all wearing these shiny
106. 5:06tiaras and elaborate clerical cloaks.
107. 5:09One cloak even has the dazed face of Jesus embroidered on it.
108. 5:13The detail in this image is gorgeous.
109. 5:15The faces? Not so much.
110. 5:18You might be wondering what on earth they are doing.
111. 5:21Well, they're singing.
112. 5:23It's a choir.
113. 5:24And then you might wonder, is this what a singing face looks like?
114. 5:28Well, yes.
115. 5:29In fact, art historians and musicologists have studied
116. 5:32the faces
117. 5:33and concluded that the angels are probably singing in polyphony,
118. 5:37meaning each of them is tackling a different tone or melodic line,
119. 5:41which, taken
120. 5:42together, probably sounds awesome but looks kind of weird.
121. 5:46And it gets even better because based on mouth shapes, specialists
122. 5:50could even identify which angel sing soprano, alto, and so on.
123. 5:55So even though it looks kinda awkward, Van Eyck did paint
124. 5:59a very realistic choir, and the symbolism fits. The panel
125. 6:04with the choir flanked the panel with God on his throne.
126. 6:08Or that might be Jesus.
127. 6:09We don't really know for sure.
128. 6:10Anyway, on the other side, there's another band of musical angels,
129. 6:15and together
130. 6:16these two swiveling panels reflect the fact
131. 6:18that, according to medieval theories, the gates of heaven open
132. 6:22up to the tones of divine music.
133. 6:25And the thing is, the Ghent Altarpiece
134. 6:28was only opened on Sundays and feast days.
135. 6:31So imagine standing here on Easter 1432.
136. 6:35The bells are ringing, the church choir is singing,
137. 6:39and then the panels of the altarpiece open.
138. 6:43As the sound fills the chapel, the angels appear,
139. 6:46playing music and singing.
140. 7:12So Van Eyck plays with our vision.
141. 7:14He plays with our hearing.
142. 7:16And then he pulls us into the main event.
143. 7:19The central panel, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.
144. 7:24It's obviously gorgeous.
145. 7:26Every plant, every pebble, every blade of grass is just perfect.
146. 7:31But the scene also seems a bit overloaded.
147. 7:34There's so much going on.
148. 7:36However, every saint and every symbol
149. 7:38and every drop of water in this painting means something.
150. 7:42Let's start with these guys.
151. 7:44Rows and rows of saints and martyrs kneeling before the Holy Lamb.
152. 7:49One of them is carrying a bunch of stones in his robe.
153. 7:52That's Saint Stephen.
154. 7:54He got stoned to death because he loved Christ.
155. 7:57Behind him, a man holding a pair of pincers with a tongue in it.
156. 8:01That's Saint Livinus, his tongue got pulled out because he preached
157. 8:05the word of God.
158. 8:06And a bit higher, there's the female saints.
159. 8:08This is Saint Barbara, carrying the tower
160. 8:11she got locked up in
161. 8:13before she got beheaded by her own father.
162. 8:15Saint Agnes is holding a lamb to symbolize her innocence.
163. 8:19She got stabbed in the throat.
164. 8:21And Saint Dorothy, she's carrying a basket of roses.
165. 8:24A miraculous bouquet sent to her straight from heaven.
166. 8:28She got executed for loving Jesus.
167. 8:30I love this club.
168. 8:31Anyway, there are more groups of important people
169. 8:34and men with beards and serious faces and great hats.
170. 8:38But let's leave them
171. 8:39and move on to the centerpiece of the altarpiece,
172. 8:42because this lamb really deserves our attention.
173. 8:46Our medical attention, it seems, because the poor thing
174. 8:49is being sacrificed by a flock of bloodthirsty angels.
175. 8:54They've got its side creating a cute little fountain of blood.
176. 8:58Animal cruelty taken aside,
177. 9:00it does look stunning.
178. 9:02No less than 14 angels, again with the colorful wings
179. 9:06surround the altar,
180. 9:08kneeling, praying and swinging their shiny censers
181. 9:12in full devotion of a sheep with a very freaky face.
182. 9:16More about that in a minute.
183. 9:18First the angels.
184. 9:20They're carrying the instruments of Jesus torment.
185. 9:23The cross, the crown of thorns and the nails.
186. 9:27The spear of Longinus that was used to check
187. 9:30if Christ was dead already.
188. 9:32The pillar Jesus was tied to during his flagellation.
189. 9:36The whips used on him, and the vinegar-soaked
190. 9:39sponge used to quench Christ's thirst.
191. 9:43Rude.
192. 9:45All these symbols point to the same thing.
193. 9:48This peaceful meadow
194. 9:49and cute little lamb are all about bloody sacrifice.
195. 9:53The Lamb is Christ offering his life for you.
196. 9:58And if you zoom in on its gazing face,
197. 10:00Van Eyck makes that uncomfortably clear.
198. 10:03You see, in the Middle Ages, it was common to represent the Lamb
199. 10:07of God with human like eyes staring straight at the viewer.
200. 10:11And that's exactly what Jan van Eyck chose to do.
201. 10:14The dove above symbolizing the Holy Spirit, does exactly the same.
202. 10:18But not everyone liked it because the sheep got over
203. 10:22painted in the 16th century and was only uncovered
204. 10:25in 2020 during an extensive restoration.
205. 10:28So again, Van Eyck is connecting the image,
206. 10:31the divine, with us, the viewer.
207. 10:35Not through light or sound this time,
208. 10:37but through a lamb staring us down
209. 10:39and through this fountain, the fountain of life.
210. 10:43It has crystal clear water that genuinely looks alive.
211. 10:48And if you follow the water, you'll notice that it flows
212. 10:51downward, straight toward us, the viewer, and toward
213. 10:55the altar below the painting in the Vijd chapel,
214. 10:59the very place where the Eucharistic sacrifice
215. 11:01was celebrated again and again
216. 11:05during mass.
217. 11:06Once more, van Eyck closes the gap between our world
218. 11:09and the world inside the painting,
219. 11:12we are looking at salvation and
220. 11:15somehow getting involved in it.
221. 11:17It's fantastic.
222. 11:19And the altarpiece still has so much more.
223. 11:21There's God or Jesus on his throne.
224. 11:24Mary and John the Baptist flanking him.
225. 11:27There are pilgrims, hermits, the Knights of Christ,
226. 11:30and of course, the lost panel of the just judges, stolen in 1934.
227. 11:37Its location remains a mystery,
228. 11:39but every panel, every corner of this monster
229. 11:43of a painting is rendered with the same insane detail.
230. 11:47I mean, look at this flagpole.
231. 11:49Perfectly reflected.
232. 11:50Or this horse mouth.
233. 11:52You can count the teeth and feel the drool.
234. 11:56Or this pilgrim's hat
235. 11:58decorated with a shell and a jewel
236. 12:00four millimeters wide.
237. 12:02And yet, if you zoom in,
238. 12:04it still clearly shows Christ's crucifixion.
239. 12:08Jan van Eyck painted this world to perfection as a gift for God
240. 12:14and for you.
241. 12:15Because once you start gazing,
242. 12:17that's it.
243. 12:18You're gone, hypnotized and pulled into a world
244. 12:21where the distance between earth and heaven disappears.
245. 12:25And that's exactly where Jan van Eyck wants you.
246. 12:28Mission accomplished, Jan. Mission accomplished.
247. 12:34Hi there.
248. 12:34Thank you so much for watching.
249. 12:36This is my brand new book, Stupid Faces in Stunning Paintings.
250. 12:40It's a collection of 50 short stories about the weirdest faces
251. 12:44in art history.
252. 12:45And yes, our little lamb and the angels are featured as well.
253. 12:49So if you're into art history or you just want to have
254. 12:52a good laugh, this might be for you.
255. 12:54Thank you so much. Bye bye.