Jan and Hubert van Eyck – Flemish Artists
Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) was a Flemish painter. He lived and worked in Brugge for a long time, and, together with Robert Campin (also known as the Master of Flemalle), was the founder of the “Ars Nova” (“new art”) in 15th-century (during the late Gothic painting period), and this began the Renaissance in northern Europe. This period of art is characterized by a realistic looking style of bright oil colors, careful detail, accurately represented textures, and the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface.1 Also, the actual “inventor” of oil painting was long believed to be Jan van Eyck.2
Jan probably was born in Maaseick in the province of Limbourg. In 1422 he was working in The Hague for John of Bavaria, the count of Holland. 3 In 1425, Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, appointed him court painter, a position he kept until his death. Jan was on especially good terms with Philip, who entrusted him with certain secret diplomatic missions and presented one of his children with a christening gift.4
The uncertainty of Jan’s early training makes his artistic relationship with his brother Hubert of great importance. The obscure figure of Hubert has led to much speculation and debate among scholars, including one theory that Hubert never even existed. But most historians agree that he did exist and that he might have helped in painting some of the paintings that seem to date from Jan's early career. 5 A few of these works, credited sometimes to both Jan and Hubert or to either Jan or Hubert, are the Turin-Milan Hours (a manuscript destroyed by fire in 1904), the Three Marys at the Tomb, and a diptych, Crucifixion and Last Judgment. The most famous work in this category is the Ghent Altarpiece, a polyptych whose outer panels open to reveal the Adoration of the Lamb, painted for the chapel of Jodocus Vyd. A note in Latin written on this altarpiece states that Hubert began the work and Jan completed it. Art historians think that Jan collected the painted panels that Hubert began before his death in 1426, added new ones of his own design, and then assembled them all in Vyd's chapel.6
Only nine paintings by Jan van Eyck still exist.7 Out of these remaining pictures, four depict religious subjects -- including the Madonna with Canon van der Paele -- and five are portraits, such as The Arnolfini Marriage. Although numerous unsigned panels have been attributed to him, less than a dozen of these are unquestionably by him. These works, in addition to the Ghent Altarpiece, include the Madonna and Child with Chancellor Rolin and Cardinal Nicolò Albergati.8
Jan's contemporaries were awed by his amazing technical skill and his very precise renderings of carefully observed detail. These qualities explain why he was called the “King of Painters” by his followers as late as the 16th century.
