Art

Jan van Eyck

c. 1390–1441 · Flemish (Netherlandish)

Early Netherlandish painting

Jan van Eyck was the leading Early Netherlandish painter, court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and active mainly in Bruges. His mastery of oil glazes produced jewel-like colour and astonishing detail, and his Arnolfini Portrait and Ghent Altarpiece are landmarks of Northern Renaissance art.

How to spot them

▸Microscopic detail and glowing, translucent oil colour — fur, brocade, jewels and reflections rendered precisely
▸Tiny reflections in mirrors or armour, and inscriptions painted on frames or walls
▸His motto 'Als Ich Can' ('As I can'), a pun on his name, appears on frames
▸Quiz clue: 'Bruges', 'Duke of Burgundy', 'convex mirror', 'Mystic Lamb', or the myth that he invented oil painting

Key works

Arnolfini Portrait (1434)

National Gallery, London

Couple in a Bruges room with a convex mirror; inscribed 'Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434'

Image: Jan van Eyck · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Ghent Altarpiece (Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) (completed 1432)

St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent

Polyptych begun, according to its inscription, by his brother Hubert and finished by Jan

Image: Jan van Eyck / Presumably Hubert van Eyck · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) (1433)

National Gallery, London

The 'Man in a Red Turban', possibly a self-portrait; first known use of 'Als Ich Can'

No free image available (likely still in copyright) · see it on Wikipedia

Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (c. 1435)

Louvre, Paris

Burgundy's chancellor Nicolas Rolin kneels before the Virgin, with a vast river landscape behind

Image: Jan van Eyck · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele (c. 1434–1436)

Groeningemuseum, Bruges

The elderly canon kneels beside St George, in whose shining armour a tiny reflected figure appears

Image: Jan van Eyck · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons

Quick-fire facts

•He was court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who sent him to Portugal to paint his future bride, Isabella
•Vasari claimed he invented oil painting; he did not, but he perfected the technique
•The Ghent Altarpiece is often called the most frequently stolen artwork; its Just Judges panel, stolen in 1934, has never been recovered
•The Ghent Altarpiece was seized by the Nazis and recovered from the Altaussee salt mine by the 'Monuments Men'
•In the Arnolfini Portrait the convex mirror reflects two further figures in the doorway, one possibly the artist
•He died in Bruges in 1441
•His portrait of his wife, Margaret van Eyck (1439), is in the Groeningemuseum, Bruges

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Sources

National Gallery, London — Arnolfini Portrait
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Jan van Eyck