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Jan
van Eyck is considered to be a founder of the Early Renaissance style in
the Northern Renaissance. We do not know the exact date and place of his
birth, it is believed that he was born in early 1390s in the eastern province
of the Netherlands Limburg. He probably was taught the art by his brother
Hubert van Eyck, with whom he created the masterpiece The
Ghent Altarpiece (1425-1432), which they started in 1425, but
after the death of Hubert, his younger brother finished it alone.
Until 1425 Jan van Eyck served at the court of Duke Johann of Bavaria in
Hague, painting and restoring pictures. Since 1425 he served at the court
of Philip the Good of Burgundy, where he was greatly valued not only as
an artist, but he also was entrusted by Duke with various diplomatic missions.
Since 1430 van Eyck lived and worked in Bruges as painter to the court
and city. It was believed, that Jan van Eyck invented painting with oils,
maybe it is not true, but his technique in painting with oils is exceptional.
His paint is so transparent that his works have a unique, almost luminous
sheen. In The Virgin of the Chancellor Rolin
(1434-1436) Van Eyck revealed himself as a master in representation of
space. Van Eyck was one of the first great masters of portrait painting
in Europe. His best portraits are Portrait of
Cardinal Nicola Albergati (c.1432), Portrait
of a Young Man (1432), Man in a
Red Turban (1433), which is probably a self-portrait, Portrait
of Margaret van Eyck, Artist's Wife(?) (1439) and also one
of the masterpieces of the Western world Giovanni
Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami (The Arnolfini Marriage) (1434).
Among his other best works are Madonna from
the Inn's Hall (1433), The Lucca
Madonna (1436), The Madonna of
Canon van der Paele (1436), The
Virgin and Child in a Church (central section of a portable
altar) (1437), The Virgin and Child with
Saints and Donor (1441). Jan van Eyck died in 1441 in Bruges.
Bibliography:
Jan van Eyck. by A. Sarabyanov. Moscow. 1990.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
The
Arnolfini Betrothal: Medieval Marriage and the Enigma of Van Eyck's Double
Portrait (Discovery Series, 3)
by Edwin Hall. University of California Press, 1997.
Jan
Van Eyck: The Play of Realism by Craig Harbison. Reaktion Books,
1997.
Jan
Van Eyck: Two Paintings of Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata
by J. R. J. Van Asperen De Boer, Kenneth Be, Marigene H. Butler, Peter
Klein, Katherine Crawford Luber, Joseph J. Rishel, Maurits Smeyers, James
Snyder, Carlenrica Spantigati. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1997.
Van
Eyck: the Ghent altarpiece (Art in context) by Elisabeth Dhanens.
Viking Press, 1973.