Jan van eyck artist biography

Summary of Jan van Eyck

Part artist, part alchemist and some might claim part magician, the legacy of artist Jan van Eyck is shrouded in both mystery and legend. In his work, he achieved an astonishingly sophisticated level of realism, heretofore unknown in the art of painting. Glimmering jewels, reflective metals, lush satins and velvets, and even human flesh were each rendered with their own distinctive qualities with such a high degree of naturalism it seemed he had conjured a new artistic medium. A century after his death, this notion was put in writing as the 16th-century Florentine painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari credited the Netherlandish painter with the very invention of oil painting, a myth that continued well into the 19th century. But even as this legend was extinguished he reserves the title "Father of Oil Painting" and is credited with inventing the modern portrait, with his enigmatic Man in a Red Turban and confounding genre scene, The Arnolfini Portrait. Moreover, the search for his miraculous, and notoriously secretive, recipe for paint has continued through centuries, withstanding the scrutiny of connoisseurs, conservation, and the ever-changing developments in x-radiograph technology seeking the true formula of his lustrous, and enduring, oil medium. Questions once answered, lead only to more questions. The artist and his paintings remain an enticing enigma. As Max J. Friedländer, renowned early 20th century specialist in Early Netherlandish painting, once described: "Here as there - and indeed, in every old reference, the first name is van Eyck."

Accomplishments

• The vast majority of artists working during the medieval era remained anonymous. In Northern Europe, this tradition changes in the early 15th century, around the time of Jan van Eyck's appointment to the court of Philip the Bold. The artist, who held a high position and seemed to have also served the duke in a diplomatic role, was among the first to sign his painting

Flemish painter (died 1441)

In this Dutch name, the surname is van Eyck, not Eyck.

Jan van Eyck (van EYEK; Dutch:[ˈjɑɱvɑnˈɛik]; c. before 1390 – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. According to Vasari and other art historians including Ernst Gombrich, he invented oil painting, though most now regard that claim as an oversimplification.

The surviving records indicate that he was born around 1380 or 1390, in Maaseik (then Maaseyck, hence his name), Limburg, which is located in present-day Belgium. He took employment in The Hague around 1422, when he was already a master painter with workshop assistants, and was employed as painter and valet de chambre to John III the Pitiless, ruler of the counties of Holland and Hainaut. After John's death in 1425, he was later appointed as court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, and worked in Lille before moving to Bruges in 1429, where he lived until his death. He was highly regarded by Philip, and undertook a number of diplomatic visits abroad, including to Lisbon in 1428 to explore the possibility of a marriage contract between the duke and Isabella of Portugal.

About 20 surviving paintings are confidently attributed to him, as well as the Ghent Altarpiece and th

Jan van Eyck is credited with originating a style of painting characterised by minutely realistic depictions of surface effects and natural light. This was made possible by using an oil medium, which allowed the building up of paint in translucent layers, or glazes.

Little is known of van Eyck's origins, but he probably came from Maaseik, near Maastricht, and was of the gentry class. He is first heard of in 1422 working in The Hague for John of Bavaria, ruler of Holland. From 1425 he was at Bruges and Lille as painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. In 1428 van Eyck was sent to Portugal to paint Philip the Good's future wife, Isabella of Portugal.

Van Eyck appears to have painted many religious commissions and portraits of Burgundian courtiers, local nobles, churchmen and merchants. A small group of his paintings survive with dates from 1432 onwards. One of his most famous works is the 'Arnolfini Portrait', signed and dated 1434. It is thought that his 'Portrait of a Man' may be a self portrait.

Jan van Eyck brings on a revolution in the history of painting in the Low Countries between circa 1420 and 1441. He is probably brought up by his older brother, Hubert, whose Ghent Altarpiece he completes in 1432, following Hubert's death in 1426. Jan van Eyck's work makes an abrupt end to the refined ‘international style' that dominates the art at the time. With his precise observation and naturalistic rendering of reality, his brilliant colouring and the oil technique that he perfectly masters, though did not invent, gives Van Eyck the look of a virtuosity that scarcely will ever be matched. As diplomat and court painter of the Burgundian dukes, he moves within the highest circles throughout his entire lifetime.

Circa 1380-85

Hubert van Eyck is probably born in Maaseik.

1384

After the death of Louis of Male, his son-in-law, the Burgundian duke Philip the Bold, rules over the Flemish counties.

Circa 1385-90

Jan van Eyck is probably born in Maaseik.

1409

‘Meester Hubrecht' paints an altar tableau for one of the convents in Tongeren.

1419

Death of John the Fearless, the second duke of Burgundy. His son Philip the Good succeeds him and from that moment rules over Flanders.

Circa 1420

The Ghent patrician Joos Vijd gives Hubert van Eyck the assignment for what will be the Ghent Altarpiece (St. Baafs Cathedral, Ghent).

1422

Jan van Eyck works as a painter in the services of John of Bavaria-Straubing (1374-1425), who abdicates the principality of Liège and from 1417 on excercises control over the counties of Holland, Zeeland and Henegouwen. Jan van Eyck works together with many assistants in the princely residence in The Hague, the so-called Inner Court.

1424

Van Eyck is mentioned as court painter for the first time in documents of the Dutch Accounting office, but he probably already serves this function in previous years.

1425

After the death of John of Bavaria (6 January), Jan van Eyck departs for Bruges. In one document dr