From the artist's life
In the Arnolfini Portrait a convex mirror reflects two figures entering the room, and above it van Eyck signed the wall in Latin: Jan van Eyck was here.
Source: Wikipedia / WikimediaNorthern Renaissance
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441) was the supreme master of the Early Netherlandish school and a pioneer of oil painting. His jewel-like precision and luminous detail — above all in the Arnolfini Portrait and the Ghent Altarpiece — astonished all of Europe.
Though he did not invent oil paint, van Eyck perfected it, making possible the deep, glowing realism that defined Northern art.
- Perfected oil painting, achieving detail and luminosity no tempera could match.
- Signed the Arnolfini Portrait on the wall itself — a witty, unprecedented act.
- Co-created the monumental Ghent Altarpiece, one of the most stolen artworks in history.
Key works
Where to start
Complete list of key works
Works with a dedicated ArtAtlas page are highlighted in gold.
- The Arnolfini PortraitOn ArtAtlas
- Ghent AltarpieceOn ArtAtlas
- Madonna of Chancellor RolinListed for reference
- Madonna with Canon Joris van der PaeleListed for reference
- Lucca MadonnaListed for reference
- Dresden TriptychListed for reference
- Saint BarbaraListed for reference
- Saint Francis receives the stigmataListed for reference
1434
The Arnolfini Portrait
A domestic interior becomes a dense system of signs about status, marriage, wealth, and witnessed presence.
1432
Ghent Altarpiece
The Ghent Altarpiece, also called the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, is a very large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420s and completed by 1432, and it is attributed to the Early Netherlandish painters and brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck.