Jan van Eyck

• 1. Uncertain Origins And Early Life

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  Jan van Eyck died on the 9th of July 1441, in Bruges. Surviving records date his birth at around 1380 or 1390, in Maaseik, which is located in present-day Belgium. The first extant record of his life comes from the court of John of Bavaria at The Hague where payments were made to Meyster Jan den malre between 1422 and 1424. This suggests a date of birth of 1395 at the latest, though some scholars argue it was closer to 1380. He took employment in The Hague around 1422 when he was already a master painter with workshop assistants. Van Eyck may have had a sister named Margaret, though her existence is uncertain and could reflect historical confusion with his own wife. Another significant painter who worked in Southern France, Barthélemy van Eyck, is presumed to be a relation. It is not known where Jan was educated, but he had knowledge of Latin and used Greek and Hebrew alphabets in his inscriptions.

• 2. Court Service And Diplomatic Missions

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  Van Eyck served as official to John of Bavaria-Straubing, ruler of Holland, Hainault and Zeeland. After John's death in 1425 he moved to Bruges and came to the attention of Philip the Good. A court salary freed him from commissioned work and allowed a large degree of artistic freedom. Van Eyck undertook a number of journeys on Philip the Duke of Burgundy's behalf between 1426 and 1429 described in records as secret commissions for which he was paid multiples of his annual salary. In 1426 he departed for certain distant lands possibly to the Holy Land. A better documented commission was the journey to Lisbon along with a group intended to prepare the ground for the Duke's wedding to Isabella of Portugal. Van Eyck spent nine months there returning to the Netherlands with Isabella as a bride to be. The couple married on Christmas Day of 1429. Records from 1437 say that he was held in high esteem by the upper ranks of Burgundian nobility and was employed in foreign commissions.

• 3. The Ghent Altarpiece Collaboration

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  His brother Hubert van Eyck collaborated on Jan's most famous work the Ghent Altarpiece. Art historians believe it was begun by Hubert and completed in 1432 by Jan. Started sometime before 1426 and completed by 1432, the polyptych is seen as representing the final conquest of reality in the North. It differs from the great works of the Early Renaissance in Italy by virtue of its willingness to forego classical idealisation in favor of the faithful observation of nature. The panel contains a number of motifs that later reappear in later works; she is already Queen of Heaven wearing a crown adorned with flowers and stars. The Ghent Altarpiece was consecrated on the 6th of May 1432 at Saint Bavo Cathedral during an official ceremony for Philip. After his death Lambert van Eyck ran the workshop as Jan's reputation and stature steadily grew. Early in 1442 Lambert had the body exhumed and placed inside St. Donatian's Cathedral.

• 4. Marian Iconography And Symbolism

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  Except the Ghent Altarpiece Van Eyck's religious works feature the Virgin Mary as the central figure. She is typically seated wearing a jewel-studded crown cradling a playful child Christ who gazes at her and grips the hem of her dress. In the 1432 Ghent Altarpiece Mary wears a crown adorned with flowers and stars. She is dressed as a bride and reads from a girdle book draped with green cloth. The lettering on the arched throne above Mary in the Ghent Altarpiece is taken from a passage from the Book of Wisdom. Wording from the same source on the hem of her robe reads EST ENIM HAEC SPECIOSIOR SOLE ET SUPER OMNEM STELLARUM DISPOSITIONEM. Inscriptions are present in all of van Eyck's paintings but they are predominant in his Marian paintings where they seem to serve a number of functions. They breathe life into portraits and give voice to those venerating Mary but also play a functional role given that contemporary religious works were commissioned for private devotion.

• 5. Secular Portraiture Techniques

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  He achieved a new level of virtuosity through his developments in the use of oil paint. Unlike most of his peers his reputation never diminished and he remained well regarded over the following centuries. His revolutionary approach to oil was such that a myth perpetuated by Giorgio Vasari arose that he had invented oil painting. This claim is now considered an oversimplification. Van Eyck's designs and methods were heavily copied and reproduced during his lifetime. He produced paintings for private clients in addition to his work at the court. Foremost among these is the Ghent Altarpiece painted for the merchant financier and politician Jodocus Vijdts and his wife Elisabeth Borluut. About 20 surviving paintings are confidently attributed to him all dated between 1432 and 1439. Ten including the Ghent Altarpiece are dated and signed with a variation of his motto ALS ICH KAN.