explosives See GUNPOWDER
Eyck, Hubert van (died 1426) and Jan van (active
c. 1422–1441) Dutch painters
Almost nothing is known of Hubert van Eyck, except that
he was apparently Jan’s elder brother and that both artists
were born at Maaseyck and contributed to the GHENT AL-
TARPIECE. Jan is first documented at the court of the count
of Holland at the Hague in 1422. In 1425 he was ap-
pointed court painter to PHILIP THE GOOD, Duke of Bur-
gundy, at Bruges. He was highly esteemed by his master,
who sent him on secret missions and embassies to Spain
and Portugal, intervened when the ducal exchequer
sought to reduce his salary, presented his children with
baptismal gifts, and, finally, assisted his widow. Within a
few years of his death, Jan’s fame had reached almost leg-
endary proportions as far afield as Italy; in the following
century Vasari praised him as the “inventor” of oil paint-
ing. While this is not strictly true, Jan certainly grasped
the new medium’s potential for rendering effects of light
and texture with a fidelity previously unimaginable.
The remarkable verisimilitude of Jan’s technique was
partially anticipated by earlier Franco-Flemish manuscript
illuminators, but it is unlikely that he began his career as
a miniaturist. The famous miniatures from the Turin-
Milan Hours, which are sometimes believed to be his ear-
liest works, are, more probably, late productions from his
workshop. Jan’s stunning technical virtuosity appears, al-
ready fully developed, in his earliest surviving panel paint-
ings, such as the Berlin Madonna in a Church and the
Washington Annunciation, both of which probably date
from the 1420s. The latter includes numerous sculptural
and architectural details which portray religious scenes re-
lated to the Annunciation. This “disguised symbolism”
became a recurrent device in early Netherlandish painting,
but Jan was its greatest and most sensitive exponent. The
accurate forms of Romanesque and Gothic architecture
with which Jan evoked the contrast between the Old and
New Testaments imply a level of antiquarian research in
advance even of contemporary Florentine artists.
Although the two brothers’ respective contributions
to the Ghent altarpiece (1432) have yet to be disentan-
gled, the great polyptych has certain stylistic anomalies
suggestive of two different hands. It seems probable that
Hubert established the ambitious iconographic program of
the altarpiece and painted much of its interior before his
death. Between 1426 and 1432 Jan probably reworked
some of his brother’s panels and painted most, if not all, of
the exterior. The seeds of much of Jan’s subsequent artis-
tic development are to be found in this compendium,
which is the most significant northern altarpiece of the
15th century.
Jan’s slightly later Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (Paris)
includes a breathtaking panorama of a city. His Arnolfini
Wedding (1434; London; see Plate V) records the making
of a marriage vow and may have a quasi legal significance
as a form of pictorial “wedding certificate.” The tiniest de-
tails are painted with an almost microscopic accuracy both
in this painting and the 1436 Madonna of Canon van der
Paerle (Bruges), although the latter also reveals a new
monumentality and simplification of form. Jan also
painted a series of independent portraits, such as that of
his wife (1439; Bruges), which are remarkable for their
dispassionate naturalism. The monumentality of his con-
ceptions belies the fact that most of his pictures are quite
small; for example, the Antwerp Virgin by the Fountain
(1439) measures less than eight by five inches. Jan’s clos-
est follower was Petrus CHRISTUS, who may have com-
pleted some pictures apparently unfinished at his master’s
death. Generally, however, the style of Rogier van der WEY-
DENwas more easily assimilated and was consequently
more influential upon subsequent Netherlands painters.
Although too demanding to be readily emulated, Jan’s
method established a permanent standard of excellence.
His paintings, more than those of any other artist, defined
the outlook and priorities of northern painters before
DÜRER.
Further reading: Craig Harbison, Jan van Eyck: The
Play of Realism (London: Reaktion Books, 1991).EEyycckk,, HHuubbeerrtt aanndd JJaann vvaann 117711