Jan van Eyck, the Alps and the moon

When Van Eyck painted the mountainous landscape in the background of Met's panel of the Crucifixion, he most probably was inspired by the view of the Alps offered to the voyager coming from the north by the road crossing the Col de la Eaucille between Chalonsur-Saone and Geneva. This confirms Van Eyck's trip in the Savoie. In this painting Van Eyck has also painted the moon at the very beginning of its declining phase. It is the first time that the moon is represented in Western painting as an astronomical rather than symbolic object. Its declining phase is undoubtedly linked to the fact that the Crucifixion took place right after the full moon of the Jewish Passover. Other examples are cited which suggest that Van Eycks lenticular faithfulness went so far as to treat the moon like an astronomical object in coherence with the painted subject.