# The Ghent Altarpiece: Singing Angels \(detail\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [EYCK, Jan van]() - Date: 1401-1450 - Technique: Oil on wood ## Commentary In the upper part of the polyptych there are two pictures depicting angels singing and playing music. Their ornamental clothes, painted with painstaking detail, and their natural appearence increase the power of this tremendous vision. Such a realistic rendering of the angelic choir means that in the fifteenth century there was a close proximity between popular view and actual lithurgical practice in the Netherlands, which played a leading role in the musical life of the period. <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 4 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/19\_cent/franck\_panis.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>César Franck: Panis angelicus</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> ## Related artworks - [Annunciation]() - [Annunciation]() - [Crucifixion]() - [Diptych]() - [Last Judgment]() - [Madonna and Child at the Fountain]() - [Madonna in the Church \(detail\)]() - [Madonna in the Church]() - [Madonna with the Child Reading]() - [Man in a Turban \(detail\)]() - [Man in a Turban]() - [Portrait of a Goldsmith \(Man with Ring\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()