Exceptionally for his time, van Eyck often signed and dated his paintings on their frames, then considered an integral part of the work the two were often painted together. However, in the celebrated Arnolfini Portrait London, National Gallery reproduced at left, van Eyck inscribed on the pictorial back wall above the convex mirror "Johannes de Eyck fuit hic " Jan van Eyck was here, The painting is one of the most frequently analyzed by art historians, but in recent years a number of popular interpretations have been questioned.
This is probably not a painted marriage certificate, or the record of a betrothal, as originally suggested by Erwin Panofsky.
The woman is probably also not pregnant, as the hand-gesture of lifting the dress recurs in contemporary renditions of virgin saints including Jan van Eyck's own Dresden Triptych and a workshop piece, the Frick Madonna.
Other works include two remarkable commemorative panels, the Madonna with Chancellor Rolin Paris, Louvre , and the Madonna of Canon Georg van der Paele Bruges, Groeninge Museum , some other religious paintings, notably the Annunciation Washington, National Gallery of Art , and a number of exceptionally haunting portraits, including that of his wife, Margareta Bruges, Groeningemuseum , and what is believed to be his self-portrait, Portrait of a Man Self Portrait?
Many more works are disputed, or believed to be by his assistants or followers. In the most substantial early source on him, a biography by the Genoese humanist Bartolomeo Facio De viris illustribus , Jan van Eyck was named "the leading painter" of his day.
Facio places him among the best artists of the early 15th century, along with Rogier van der Weyden, Gentile da Fabriano, and Pisanello. It is particularly interesting that Facio shows as much enthusiasm for Netherlandish painters as he does for Italian painters. This text also sheds light on aspects of Jan van Eyck's production now lost, citing a bathing scene as well as a world map which van Eyck painted for Philip the Good.
Facio also recorded that van Eyck was a learned man, and that he was versed in the classics, particularly the writings of Pliny the Elder about painting. This is supported by records of an inscription from Ovid's Ars Amatoria, which was on the now-lost original frame of the Arnolfini Double Portrait, and by the many Latin inscriptions on his paintings, using the Roman alphabet, then reserved for educated men. Jan van Eyck likely had some knowledge of Latin for his many missions abroad on behalf of the Duke.
From Wikipedia. Report error on this page. The Virgin Of Chancellor Rolin. Order a Hand-Painted Reproduction of this Painting. A year later, van Eyck created Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele, and in he completed Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, which considered to be one of the most outstanding works of van Eyck.
In , he created the Madonna at the Fountain. Jan van Eyck left a rich legacy, including many portraits emphasizing objectivity and the accuracy of the descriptions. His unique style has caused speculation that the artist used optical instruments to project and trace images accurately. The last picture, depicting Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, is as significant as the Ghent Altarpiece.
The artist focused on the ideas of individual identity. There is an interesting fact that some researchers say that van Eyck invented oil painting. He was not a pioneer but contributed to the development of this arts.
Probably, the portrait painter created new techniques, using tempera. Thanks to the thoughtful composition, the works of van Eyck seem to be a single entity filled with symbolism and features of his unique style. The landscape and illumination helped to achieve new and unforeseen effects. Jan van Eyck was married. There is little information about the wedding, as well as his origin. In the s, the artist and his wife moved to Bruges, where he bought a house.
Scientists claim that van Eyck had ten children in this marriage. Researchers believe that the painter created the picture of his wife.
Jan made the painting shortly before his death and, apparently, was going to present it on her birthday.
The image does not embrace an ideal woman. Margaret was not attractive, but her face is imbued with noble features and thoughtfulness. It is curious that this portrait of the artist's wife was donated to the Artists Guild after his death. Up to the 18th century, the organization exhibited it on the Feast Day for St.
Luke, a patron saint of artists. In his more complicated compositions, Jan was able to construct a convincingly unified and logical pictorial world with absolute physical stillness and filled with spiritual energy.
His international fame is best documented in Italy, as Susie Nash, professor of Renaissance Art, notes in her book titled, Northern Renaissance Art , in which she documents humanist writers, "such as Cyriacus d'Ancona , Bartolommeo Fazio , Francesco Florio and Giovanni Santi In , after his many extended journeys for the Duke, Jan purchased a house with a stone-gabled front in Bruges.
He married a much younger woman named Margareta, from a lower but still noble class, who bore him ten children. In , Duke Philip was the godfather at the christening of their first child, named Philip or Philippina, increased Jan's salary and gave him six silver goblets made by a goldsmith in Bruges especially for the baptism of the child.
Two years later is the last documented "secret journey" van Eyck would make on behalf of the duke. Philip continued to support the van Eyck family, even after the esteemed artist's death in He helped one of the artist's daughters purchase entrance to a convent and extended the artist's payments to his widow. Upon Jan's death, his younger brother, Lambert, is said to have settled the estate, taken over the artist workshop with its many unfinished commissions, and then oversaw its closing.
Lambert was also responsible for exhuming the body of his brother for reburial inside St. Donatian's Cathedral in Bruges. Jan van Eyck was a leading force in 15th-century Flemish painting, due to his innovations in the use of optical perspective and handling of oil paint. Gradual transitions between color areas were now possible due to the slower drying time of the oil paint which, as compared to egg tempera, allowed the colors to be used more specifically to depict perspective, deep space and realistic modeling.
Although the specter of his brother, Hubert, raised by Jan's own dedication found on the Ghent Altarpiece , has stirred doubts to the true authorship of this and other early works, what remains clear is the sheer amount of documentation and praise accorded to Jan during, and after, his life eclipses the dearth of materials in regards to Hubert's career.
Alistair Smith, former curator of Flemish and German painting at the National Gallery in London described, "In terms both of the development of the oil medium, and of naturalism, Jan van Eyck is one of the founders of modern painting.
I had just been taken for something great. Then I saw Jan van Eyck's picture; it is a most precious painting, full of thought. The Eve, Mary, and God the Father are especially good. The influence of the later-named Flemish Primitives seemed to weaken as the Classical revival of Italian painting gradually moved into the northern regions of Europe.
However, as collections of important Netherlandish works moved into new hands, notably in to Margaret of Austria, Habsburg Regent of the Netherlands, whose artwork was later inherited, via Mary of Hungary by the King Philip II of Spain where it was first noted in a inventory.
Here, a minor painting of Philip's daughters may have been influenced by the postures in van Eyck's famous Arnolfini Portrait. In the latter work, the Spanish painter's similar use of a mirror to complete the visual and conceptual narrative of the painting has proved as confounding to scholars as van Eyck's earlier work.
Velazquez's Las Meninas would, in turn, influence the Romantic painter Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes, as is evident in etchings made of the Velazquez's masterpiece along with Goya's own depiction of the royal family, albeit with a sense of irony.
During the Romantic period, interest in the Northern Renaissance was revived, along with a rising interest in the accomplishments of the artists and architects working in the Gothic era. The seemingly small and unassuming Arnolfini Portrait would turn heads once again after coming into the possession of the National Gallery of London in , over years after it was first commissioned by the wealthy merchant.
It was at this time, a group of rebellious young artists at the British Royal Academy sought to overturn the influence of founding president Sir Joshua Reynolds , on whom they bestowed the condescension Sir "Sloshua" Reynolds, and centuries of what they described as mimicry of the Renaissance masters, Raphael above all others.
For the Pre-Raphaelites , as they were collectively called, the striking veracity of this small painting echoed the fine details seen in early photographs, a process recently invented. This painting was almost prescient in its modernity. A recent exhibition at the National Gallery in London, titled Reflections: van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites continued the exploration of this relationship focusing closely on the use of the mirror by the latter group of artists.
The style of van Eyck and the Flemish Primitives is also credited as a key element of Grant Wood's move away from his early Impressionistic canvases, both of which he viewed during his early travels through Europe. More recently, artists associated with the contemporary Pop Surrealist movement, including leading figures such as husband and wife Mark Ryden and Marion Peck, count the Flemish masters and Jan van Eyck as a key early influence.
Content compiled and written by Cheryl Van Buskirk. Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Molly Enholm.
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