A new reading of the quatrain on the Ghent Altarpiece
The recent conservation of the Van Eyck brothers' Ghent Altarpiece has demonstrated the authenticity of the Latin quatrain on the frame beyond doubt. This article offers two emendations and several explanations of the text. The first verse of the quatrain needs to be corrected, since the word &...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Oud-Holland |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Format: | UnknownFormat |
| Sprache: | eng |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2022
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Tag hinzufügen | Zusammenfassung: | The recent conservation of the Van Eyck brothers' Ghent Altarpiece has demonstrated the authenticity of the Latin quatrain on the frame beyond doubt. This article offers two emendations and several explanations of the text. The first verse of the quatrain needs to be corrected, since the word 'eeyck' as customarily transcribed is metrically, syntactically and morphologically incorrect. The irregular second foot of the hexameter, the preposition 'e', which is not appropriate for a toponym, and the hiatus between the e and the next vowel represent three anomalies that can be dispelled by the reading 'de eyck'. The leonine hexameter contains a shifted internal rhyme: 'Hubertus ~ repertus'. Additionally, the leonine rhyme of the second hexameter "Incepit· pondus· q(ue) Johannes arte secundus" is emphasised by the interpunction before the enclitic '-que'. The damage to the beginning of the third hexameter requires philological restoration. The old transcription "Frater perfectus" is grammatically impossible but the modern conjecture "Frater perfecit" raises three objections: the expression 'pondus perficere' does not sound very idiomatic; the reading 'perfecit' disrupts the leonine rhyme 'perfectus ~ fretus'; and the ending of the sentence in the third verse leaves the final verse hanging without a clear subject. The conjecture 'perfunctus' solves all three problems. The deponent verb 'perfungi' governs 'pondus'. The form 'perfunctus' rhymes with 'fretus'. The participle construction announces the conclusion of the epigram. The concluding verse "Versu sexta Mai· vos collocat acta tueri" is metrically problematic. The genitive 'Maii' or 'Mai' normally comprises two long syllables, while the scansion requires one long syllable. 'Mai' is an example of 'synizesis' – the contraction of two long consecutive syllables. The leonine eye rhyme 'Mai ~ tueri' is compensated for by a second internal rhyme: 'sexta ~ acta'. The verb 'collocare' (to place) has the specific meaning here 'to allot a place'. The construction 'collocat… tueri' should be read as a verb of motion with an infinitive of purpose (a biblical Hellenism). The verb 'tueri' does not mean 'to protect' in this instance but 'to behold'. The inscription thus translates as: "Hubert van Eyck, the best painter ever to be found, began (this work) and his brother Johannes, who as second in art completed the task at the behest of Joos Vijd, summons you with a verse to admire his work here on the sixth of May." |
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| Beschreibung: | Illustration |
| ISSN: | 0030-672X |