The New Student's Reference Work/Eyck, Hubert and Jan van

Eyck (īk), Hubert and Jan van, two illustrious painters of the early Flemish school. They probably were born at Alden Eyck or Masseyck on the Maas, but the date of their birth is uncertain; Hubert is supposed to have been born about 1370 and Jan about 1389. The distinction of being the inventors of oilpainting is claimed for them, though evidence exists that it was practiced previously. But the Van Eycks were the first who brought into notice and perfected the mode of mixing colors with oil. For transparent and brilliant coloring and minute finish their works have never been surpassed. Jan seems to have been instructed in art by his elder brother and to have worked with him as court-painter to Philip of Charolais till 1422, when he entered the service of John of Bavaria, count of Holland, at The Hague; and in 1425 he was appointed painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, practicing his art chiefly at Bruges. Hubert continued to reside in Ghent, and at the time of his death, Sept. 18, 1426, was engaged upon an important altarpiece, which was completed by Jan. The masterpieces of the brothers are mostly met with in Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, Berlin, Munich and Paris. Three pictures of Jan's are in the National Gallery, London, dated 1432, '33 and '34. In the Louvre, Paris, is his exquisitely finished little picture of Chancellor Rollin kneeling before the Virgin. Jan died at Bruges on July 9, 1440. See Early Flemish Painters by Crowe and Cavalcaselle.