While there is some debate about the attribution to Jan Van Eyck for this page from the Turin-Milan Hours manuscript, the consensus is that the Birth of John the Baptist is by Jan’s hand and painted between 1422 and 1425 during the period he was employed by John III of Bavaria, ruler of Holland and Hainaut at the time.

 

That the miniature has similarities to the Arnolfini Portrait has not gone unnoticed by art historians: the red bed, the woman in the green dress, the dog in the forefront, the pattens pointing to the edge of the frame, the beams supporting the ceiling, together suggest that Van Eyck sourced his earlier work and replicated some of its features in the Arnolfini Portrait. Seemingly, the Birth of John the Baptist served as a ‘precursor’ to the later painting dated by Van Eyck at 1434.

 

Beneath this representation of the biblical account of the Baptist’s birth (Luke 1 : 5-25, 57-79) is another narrative, one similarly found in the Arnolfini Portrait. In both paintings the setting corresponds to a chapel housing holy relics.

 

The chapel scene and contents in the Birth of John the Baptist represents the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, built in the 13th century by the French king Louis IX to house the many holy relics (including the Shroud) ceded to him by Baldwin de Courtenay II, emperor of Constantinople.

 

Van Eyck also incorporated his interest in astronomy with references to celestial objects, and points to the heavenly light transmitted through passages from Scripture. Just as John the Baptist (Jan) was commissioned as a witness to speak for the light (John 1 : 8), so also was Jan van Eyck in his role as an artist and illuminator.

 

There is a transition theme running through the painting – a hand-over or a type of pass-over, a new-beginning, or resurrected life after death – initially expressed with the translation of the holy relics from Baldwin to Louis.

 

I began the presentation of the Arnolfini Portrait by suggesting the painting is structured as a coat of arms and the two main figures are presented in the role of ‘supporters’ to a higher power, joined in a shared pledge of allegiance. This idea is also expressed in the Baptist miniature. Two shields or coats of arms are placed either side of the central part of the window frame – representing the Cross and its ‘Higher Power’. The shields are ‘supporters’ or ‘protectors’ of the Cross and all the other holy relics portrayed in the painting.

 

The blue shield on the West side represents the kingdom of France. The colour was adopted by Louis IX of France when he became king in 1226. The gold shield on the East side, with its three red roundels, represents the House of Courtenay and refers in particular to Baldwin II of Courtenay, the last Latin Emperor ruling from Constantinople. Between 1239 and 1242 Baldwin II handed over a number of relics – 22 in all – to King Louis IX. This act itself is another representation of ceding or surrending to a higher power and authority, that of France.

 

Just as the two shields are placed left and right of the vertical window divider, so is the picture itself divided into two vertical sections. On the left is the scene encompassing the bed and the birth of the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets. This side of the painting represents the Old Covenant. The section on the right represents the New Covenant, a new relationship between God and his people, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. John, signifying the Old Covenant, prepares the way for Jesus signifying the New Covenant. The two men proclaim on two sides of the Jordan – John, a baptism of repentance; Jesus, a baptism of the Holy Spirit.

 

This is emphasised by an unusual feature of the overall composition built on a simple single-point perspective grid. The vertical centre line is placed almost at the right edge of the picture frame and the horizon’s vanishing or infinity point is centred on the book held by Zechariah.

 

It’s not without reason that Van Eyck chose to deliberately draw the viewer’s attention to this area of the painting and its detail. He did the same with the placing of the mirror as the central focus in the Arnolfini Portrait. The two features are related. What is seen in the back room of the Baptist miniature forms part of the back room reflected in the Arnolfini mirror! More on this later in the presentation.

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But there is another purpose why Van Eyck adopted this type of linear perspective  and the unusual position in the picture for the converging lines. They meet at a point on a Hebrew Bible held by the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, likely opened at the Book of Isaiah where the first of the Latter Prophets called out: “Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert.” (40:3)

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This prophecy was echoed by John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets. When asked who he was by the Levites and priests. John answered: “I am, as Isaiah prophesied: a voice that cries in the wilderness: make a straight way for the Lord.” (John 1:23)

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In the opening passage to John’s gospel, the evangelist states that “In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Hence the converging straight lines or paths towards Zechariah’s bible, the Word of God.