Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck was a <a href="/facts/Flemish_people/MIyUKkDM">Flemish</a> painter active in <a href="/facts/Bruges/VofsF5GR">Bruges</a> who was one of the early innovators of what became known as <a href="/facts/Early_Netherlandish_painting/G9MmxQYA">Early Netherlandish painting</a>, and one of the most significant representatives of Early <a href="/facts/Northern_Renaissance/WmWISPdL">Northern Renaissance</a> art. According to <a href="/facts/Vasari/mJlYVoQB">Vasari</a> and other art historians including <a href="/facts/Ernst_Gombrich/FWWBC2BB">Ernst Gombrich</a>, he invented <a href="/facts/Oil_painting/rxn2lg9o">oil painting</a>, though most now regard that claim as an oversimplification.
The surviving records indicate that he was born around 1380 or 1390, in <a href="/facts/Maaseik/VaCIAoYU">Maaseik</a> (then Maaseyck, hence his name), <a href="/facts/Limburg_(Belgium)/EBRTryCk">Limburg</a>, which is located in present-day <a href="/facts/Belgium/YKuMXP5j">Belgium</a>. He took employment in <a href="/facts/The_Hague/NRtu1Qqk">The Hague</a> around 1422, when he was already a master painter with workshop assistants, and was employed as painter and <a href="/facts/Valet_de_chambre/DeTn92tP">valet de chambre</a> to <a href="/facts/John_III%2c_Duke_of_Bavaria/1XkfMuIY">John III the Pitiless</a>, ruler of the counties of <a href="/facts/County_of_Holland/hkuh5Iyc">Holland</a> and <a href="/facts/County_of_Hainaut/zG3wGayK">Hainaut</a>. After John's death in 1425, he was later appointed as court painter to <a href="/facts/Philip_the_Good/7R5JqQHo">Philip the Good</a>, <a href="/facts/Duke_of_Burgundy/enrAQhQb">Duke of Burgundy</a>, and worked in <a href="/facts/Lille/Bu8rsIzA">Lille</a> before moving to <a href="/facts/Bruges/VofsF5GR">Bruges</a> in 1429, where he lived until his death. He was highly regarded by Philip, and undertook a number of diplomatic visits abroad, including to <a href="/facts/Lisbon/zFTcC99e">Lisbon</a> in 1428 to explore the possibility of a marriage contract between the duke and <a href="/facts/Isabella_of_Portugal%2c_Duchess_of_Burgundy/tyCBDwr0">Isabella of Portugal</a>.
About 20 surviving paintings are confidently attributed to him, as well as the <a href="/facts/Ghent_Altarpiece/VUCj7huU">Ghent Altarpiece</a> and the <a href="/facts/Illuminated_manuscript/4IPxhUdM">illuminated miniatures</a> of the <a href="/facts/Turin-Milan_Hours/8vP5mlGc">Turin-Milan Hours</a>, all dated between 1432 and 1439. Ten are dated and signed with a variation of his motto ALS ICH KAN (As I (Eyck) can), a pun on his name, which he typically painted in Greek characters. 
Van Eyck painted both secular and religious subject matter, including altarpieces, single-panel religious figures and commissioned portraits. His work includes single panels, diptychs, triptychs, and polyptych panels. He was well paid by Philip, who sought that the painter was secure financially and had artistic freedom so that he could paint "whenever he pleased." Van Eyck's work comes from the <a href="/facts/International_Gothic/FvWzg3L1">International Gothic</a> style, but he soon eclipsed it, in part through a greater emphasis on naturalism and realism. He achieved a new level of virtuosity through his developments in the use of oil paint. He was highly influential, and his techniques and style were adopted and refined by the Early Netherlandish painters.

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Jan van Eyck