Jan Van Eyck (1390-1441)

• Was a Flemish painter.
• The surviving records indicate that he was born around 1380 or 1390, in Maaseik.
• He was active in Bruges.
• It is not known where Jan was educated, but he had knowledge of Latin and used the Greek and Hebrew alphabets in his inscriptions.
• Van Eyck painted both secular and religious subject matter, including altarpieces.
• He had a sister Margareta, and at least two brothers, Hubert and Lambert.
• He was highly influential, and his techniques and style were adopted and refined by the Early Netherlandish painters.
• He left behind many unfinished works to be completed by his workshop journeymen.
• After his death, Lambert van Eyck ran the workshop, as Jan's reputation and stature steadily grew.
• Van Eyck was the only 15th-century Netherlandish painter to sign his panels.
• The signatures are usually completed in a decorative script, often of a kind reserved for legal documents.
• The displayed painting is a crop from: Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434.
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