UA author finds niche in triptychs

Book’s research took 15 years

— With a retail price of $95, it’s not likely that University of Arkansas art history professor Lynn Jacob’s new coffee table book about the evolution of the Netherlandish triptychs will be under a lot of Christmas trees.

But for fellow art historians and scholars, Opening Doors: The Early Netherlandish Triptych Reinterpreted (Pennsylvania State University Press), could prove an invaluable resource on a topic not covered to this extent in at least three decades.

A triptych is a work of art, usually a panel painting, divided into three sections hinged together so that it can be folded shut or displayed open.

Jacobs spent 15 years researching Netherlandish triptychs from the 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries, a time when the term didn’t exist as it’s known today. Contemporary French, Dutch and Latin documents referred to them then as “painting with doors.”

“It’s not exactly going to be a best-seller,” she said.“But hopefully it will become standard work for people who are interested in this subject matter.”

As an undergraduate student at Princeton University in 1975, while taking a class in northern Renaissance art, she was exposed to a book titled Early Netherlandish Triptychs: A Study in Patronage by Shirley Neilsen Blum.

“I thought, ‘If only I had written that book ... if only I could write a book on triptychs,” recalled Jacobs, “but I was an undergraduate and I thought, ‘It’s already done. I have nothing more to say.’”

As she made her way from student to art scholar she realized “what’s published isn’t the final word, and if you can come up with some ideas, you can contribute to the discourse on the topic.”

The 1969 tome analyzed the artwork and what wasgoing on in the pictures but didn’t address the role of the triptych format and how it could contribute to the meaning of the work, Jacobs said. For her book, she examined the history of the triptych format - how it started, why it ended.

Each chapter covers a different artist or group of artists, moving chronologicallyfrom early triptychs, such as early Netherlandish painter Robert Campin’s Merode Altarpiece and Jan van Eyck’s Dresden Marienaltar, to 16th century works by Hieronymus Bosch and closing with a discussion of Peter Paul Ruben’s famous Antwerp, Belgium, altarpieces.

Reviews on Jacob’s book are yet to come, but she’s received word from fellow art scholars that plan to make it required reading for their students.

“I think it’s going to be used and referenced, discussed,” she said.

The book is available online and is expected to be carried in museum bookstores. Copies are already available at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

“I like to think that it’s readable for anybody who’s interested in art, but it might be more in-depth than just the average person might want to read,” she said.

A benefit in working on a book so long, Jacobs said, is “having your thoughts mature.”

“I had to master basically master the bibliography for virtually every Netherlandish artists who did triptychs so that was time-consuming,” Jacobs said. “I just really feel like I covered the topic in the way I wanted to cover it.

“It was a worthwhile investment for me.”

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 12/23/2012

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