VAN EYCK, Hubert and Jan. - H., died in 1436, still mentioned in 1425; J., the younger brother, died in 1441. A late (?) inscription on the frame of the Ghent altarpiece is the principal document attesting to the existence of H. as a painter, who would have begun the altarpiece, finished, after his death, by J. The life of J. is much better documented: in 1422-24 he is painter at the court of Count John of Bavaria at The Hague; in 1425, after the count's death, he becomes "variet de chambre" and court painter to Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, and such he remains even when he moves from 1425-28 to Lille, and, from 1430, to Bruges, where he remains until his death, and where he finished, in 1432, the Ghent altarpiece. For the duke he made journeys to Tournai, to Portugal, etc.
On the Ghent altarpiece there still exist conflicting theses: according to some scholars it would be entirely by Jan: the stylistic differences among the 12 panels would be explained as deriving from the artist's evolution during the work. According to others, who adhere to the inscription, the altarpiece would have been begun by Hubert and finished by the younger Jan. In this case the division between the two brothers remains very difficult and uncertain. Perhaps the lower parts are by Hubert (or in part), with the Adoration of the Lamb, the Hosts of Knights, the Hermits, etc. By Jan would be the upper and outer shutters and some repaintings and components of the lower parts.
In any case with the Ghent altarpiece a new era of Northern painting begins: there dominates in it - whether by one or two artists - a plastic sense, a broad and powerful naturalism, an individualistic expression that contrasts with the preceding Gothic style and the tenderness of the so-called international style of the beginning of the century: which must also be understood as an affirmation of the wealthy bourgeoisie of the Flemish cities, in contrast with the courtly taste of the preceding generations.
Depending on whether the individual parts of the Ghent altarpiece are attributed to one or the other of the brothers, it will be necessary to revise the attributions of the preceding works. These are the Crucifixion and the Last Judgment in the Washington Gallery (formerly in Leningrad), the Three Marys at the Tomb of Christ in the Beuningen collection, Vierhouten (formerly Cook, Richmond), the Madonna in the church and the Crucifix between St. John and the Madonna in the Berlin Gallery, all also ascribed to H. and stylistically antecedent to the Ghent altarpiece. Also discussed between H. and J. are certain sheets of the Book of Hours also of Turin (burned in 1904 in the Turin Library); another part recently came from the Trivulzio collection into the Civic Museum of Turin. These Très belles heures de N. Dame were painted for Duke John of Berry and for William VI of Holland (1416-17 ca.) and develop the old Flemish-Burgundian miniature toward the new plasticity, luminosity of the Ghent altarpiece itself.
Subsequent to the Ghent altarpiece, and therefore secure works of J., are several portraits: 1432: the London one with the inscription Thymotheo; 1433: the Man with the Turban (self-portrait?) in Berlin; 1434: the Arnolfini with his wife (London); 1436: the De Leeuw in Vienna; 1439: the Portrait of the painter's wife in Bruges and the Niccolò Albergati in Vienna; as well as other portraits in Berlin, etc.; some Madonnas in Melbourne (1433), Bruges, with the canon van der Paele (1436), Antwerp (1439); undated are those in Frankfurt, Dresden, Paris (with the chancellor Rollin), the Administration in Washington; of 1437 the St. Barbara in Antwerp; in two authentic replicas is preserved a representation of the Stigmata of St. Francis (Turin, Philadelphia).
The very high fame of the E., especially as "inventors" of oil painting (which they effectively perfected), is very ancient. They are mentioned already by Ciriaco d'Ancona, by Bartolomeo Facio, by Filarete, by Giovanni Santi, as well as by Guicciardini and by Vasari.
Bibliography17 works
Bernardo Degenhart