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The Van Eyck Brothers

Jan and/or Hubert van Eyck

The Ghent Altarpiece: 1426-32: Ghent, St. Bavon's Church.

Dedicated May 6, 1432, commissioned by (or at least paid for by) Jodocus Vyd.

Inscription names Hubert van Eyck as the original artist, and his brother Jan ("second in the art") as the one who completed it. Very little is actually known about Hubert except that he apparently died in Sept.1426 in Ghent and was buried under a blue tombstone, which has since disappeared. About Jan, however, we know quite a lot.

Jan van Eyck

Birth: Neither place nor date of birth is actually known for either of the Van E. brothers; but they were traditionally believed to have come from the town of Maaseick (north of Maastricht).

October 1422: Jan is court painter and "valet de chambre" to John of Bavaria, Count of Holland, in the Hague. Already referred to as "Master," he must have been born no later than ca. 1390, possibly earlier.

May 19, 1425: Jan moves to Bruges, after death of John of Bavaria, and is appointed court painter and valet de chambre to Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. [This Philip was the grandson of Sluter's patron.]

1425-29: Jan lives mainly in Lille, with time out for several secret missions on behalf of the duke. These destinations are still unknown.

[Sept. 1426 = Death of Hubert van Eyck.]

October 1426: Jan is paid 360 livres (a LOT of money) for another secret mission.

1427: Jan goes to Spain on unsuccessful mission to negotiate marriage between Duke Philip and the Spanish princess Isabella of Urgel, niece of Alfonso V of Aragon.

October 18, 1427: A "Johannes peintre" visits Tournai, receiving a substantial gift of wine from the city magistrate (this is St. Luke's Day). Two days later the duke's official delegation arrives, returning from Aragon. Jan makes another trip to Tournai in 1428, receiving another travel payment from Philip the Good for a secret mission.

1428 and 1429: Jan travels to Lisbon in connection with marriage contract between Philip and Isabella of Portugal, daughter of king John. Sails from Sluis (Zeeland) Oct. 19, 1428, mooring in Sandwich, England; visits the harbors of "Chambre" (Canterbury?), Plymouth and Falmouth, stops in Bayonne, finally reaches Lisbon on December 18. It is his mission to draw or paint the portrait of Isabella, sending it home for the duke's approval. While waiting to hear from Philip, the party tours Iberia, making a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James the Great at Compostela; a visit to the court of King Juan of Castile in Valladolid; and to the king of Granada, Mohammed VIII.

The messengers return from Flanders (June 4) with a favorable reply; the proxy marriage takes place in late July. The courtiers set sail for home on Oct. 8; the princess lands at Sluis on Christmas Day, 1429, and the formal marriage is performed at Sluis by the Bishop of Tournai. Festivities last until January 8, 1430, when the wedding party arrives in Bruges. Philip founds the chivalric Order of the Golden Fleece on Jan. 10.

1431 or 32: Jan receives payment from the duke for "some tasks" performed at the ducal chateau in Hesdin.

May 6, 1432: Dedication date of the Ghent Altarpiece. Jan buys a house in Bruges, in the parish of St. Gilles, near the ducal palace.

July 17: The mayor and a group of aldermen call at Jan's workshop "to see certain works" and give generous tips to his apprentices. (What works? Maybe the 6 pieces of sculpture Jan had been commissioned to polychrome for the town hall?)

October 10: Date of the "Tymotheos" (Leal Souvvenir) portrait

1433: Marries Margaret (b.1406). Paints Portrait of Man in Red Turban, dated October 21, 1433.

Philip inspects a work by Jan in the ducal residence; makes payment in Brussels, perhaps indicating that the work was for his Brussels palace.

June 1434: Birth of the Van Eycks' first child. Philip and Isabella present a gift of 6 silver cups. A second child seems to have been born in Sept., 1435, since Philip makes an identical gift of silver cups. (At least one child was a daughter, Lievine, who later became a nun at Maaseick, receiving a gift from Philip on that occasion.)

The so-called Arnolfini double portrait (London, N.G.) painted. Formerly thought by Panofsky et al. to depict the wedding of Giovani Arnolfini to Giovanna Cenami. (It can't be their wedding--they weren't married until 1439.) Maybe it's Arnolfini's brother and sister-in-law?

The Duke orders 76 livres paid to Jan at Lille.

1435: A big payment for "certain large works"

1436: Special payment for "certain distant journeys to foreign parts" (estranges marches--or frontier regions.) For "secret affairs of which [Philip] wishes no mention to be made." Something in connection with the world map that Jan is said to have made for the duke?

Completion of the Madonna of Canon Georges van der Paele. Begins painting Portrait of the Goldsmith Jan de Leeuw (Oct. 21).

1439: Reimbursement for money Jan paid on the duke's behalf to a miniaturist who had "decorated a book with golden letters."

June 17: Dated Portrait of Margaret van Eyck, the painter's wife, age 33.

1441: Death of Jan van Eyck, in late June (ca. June 23), with burial in the church of St. Donatus, Bruges. Philip the Good makes a special grant to his widow. Daughter Lievine enters Maaseick convent (1449/50), receiving a gift from the duke.

For more on Van Eyck, see Reserves:

  • Dhanens (excellent reproductions and full documentation, but rejects some paintings)
  • Harbison
  • Panofsky ENP, Chap. VII
  • Otto Paecht