Jan van Eyck was one of the greatest revolutionaries in art. He radically changed the way in which men look at the natural world. His artistic achievements were well-known in Renaissance Italy. Vasari, who wrote about Van Eyck a hundred years later, wrongly attributed the discovery of oil painting to him. Only a few years after his death in 1441, Jan van Eyck was being hailed on both sides of the Alps as one of the greatest painter of the age. Despite Van Eyck’s great fame, little is known of his life except for his last years. For the last 16 years of his life, he worked at the court of Philip the Good, The Duke of Burgundy. The Duke made use of his skills as both painter and diplomat, sending him on numerous secret missions. The works of Jan van Eyck are celebrated for their visual splendor and precision of detail. Their brilliant colours and magnificent definition are due to Jan’s refinement of the oil-painting technique.

1. Jan Van
Eyck
c1390 -1441
First created 20 Jun 2005. Version 5.0. 20 Oct 2017. Daperro, London.
All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective owners. Available
free for non-commercial and personal use.
“He was the king of
painters whose perfect and
accurate works will never
be forgotten”
Jean Lemaire de Belge, 1504.
The King of painters
Perfectly reflected reality
Version 5

2. In the 15th century, European painting made
a decisive break, with the past.
Changes took place in Italy and in Flanders
(modern day Belgium & Netherlands).
In Italy, it centred around Florence. In
Flanders, it centred around the ports of
Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp.
Flanders was the trading hub, the financial
and cultural centre of Northern Europe. It
was amongst the most prosperous places in
Europe.
Panoramic view of Florence 2003
Guild houses Ghent 2002
15th Century
Northern
Renaissance

3. Man in Tuban (probably a self-
portrait). 1433. Van Eyck.
National Gallery. London.
A motto was found on this
painting ‘Als ich kan’ (As I can).
Jan van Eyck was born before 1390 but very little is
known about his early life before 1422. He moved to
Bruges in 1430 and lived there until he died in 1441.
He was one of the greatest and most influential
painters. His style was naturalistic, full of realistic
details. He belonged to the Early Netherlandish
School.
Van Eyck is the first painter who used and mastered
the technique of oil painting, which transformed
European paintings.
He was employed as a court painter by Philip the
Good, the powerful Duke of Burgundy, and enjoyed
patronage of the rich and famous. He was also a
diplomat and undertook numerous ambassadorial
journey for the Duke.
Jan van Eyck
Biography

4. Van Eyck was years ahead of his time. He painted his masterpieces even before the famous
Renaissance painters were born .

5. The use of Lens
Van Eyck painted the mirror on the right.
How is it possible that reflections in the
mirror appear so realistic, even before
the laws of perspective were discovered?
Between the late 1420s and the early
1430s, paintings in Flanders suddenly
look more photographic.
Painters in Flanders had discovered the
use of the lens to project images, helping
them to paint. They employed a device
called Camera Obscura.
Camera Obscura is a ‘dark room’ with an
opening for lens. Van Eyck may have
used such device.
The mirror in the painting.
Only 5 years separate the two portraits. Left. Masolino
da Panicale c1425. Right Robert Campin c1430.
A pair of spectacle painted
by Jan Van Eyck in 1434.
Techniques

6. Comparison of
Netherlandish and
Italian Portraits

7. Netherlandish and Italian Portraits
Portrait
Significant progress was made in the decade between 1425 and 1435.
The Netherlandish portraits on the top row were more naturalistic..

8. Costume Comparison of costumes
Drapery painted by van Eyck in c1426 (Left). Massolino painted these costumes in 1426-27 (Right).

9. Armour Comparison of Armour
Van Eyck 1434. Andrea del Castagno c1448.
Van Eyck was also years ahead in depicting armours using oil.
Mantegna c1460.

10. The New York Diptych –
Crucifixion and the Last
Judgement. 1425.
ReligiousPainting
New York Diptych

11. The New York Diptych – Detail CrucifixionReligiousPainting

12. New York Diptych - Details Last JudgementReligiousPainting

13. Ghent Altarpiece

14. The Ghent Altarpiece, 1432
The Ghent Altarpiece is one of the greatest artistic achievement of 15C (1432).
The altarpiece is very large and was painted for the Cathedral of St Bavo. It
was began by Hubert Van Eyck, Jan’s elder brother, but finished by Jan Van
Eyck.
The altarpiece was painted on the Exterior and the Interior, which is revealed by
opening the panels.
Interior of the altarpieceExterior of the altarpiece
GhentAltarpiece

15. The Ghent Altarpiece - InteriorGhentAltarpiece

16. Altarpiece - InteriorGhentAltarpiece
Choir

17. Altarpiece - InteriorGhentAltarpiece
Adam

18. Altarpiece - InteriorGhentAltarpiece
Eve

19. Ghent Altarpiece 1432 Interior details – Judges, Soldier and Music
Music Making.Soldier of Christ.Just Judges.

20. Altarpiece - InteriorGhentAltarpiece
Knight in shinning armour.

21. Interior details – Adoration of the LambGhent Altarpiece

22. Van Eyck introduced extensive use
of landscape in his paintings. His
landscape was an integral part of the
painting and his approach was more
naturalistic, carefully depicted the
light and shadows. This is the
detail view of a city in the Adoration
of the Lamb.
Van Eyck’s
landscape.
Landscape

23. Ghent Altarpiece 1432 Interior details – The Lamb and Crowd.
The Crowd.The Sacrificial Lamb.

24. Ghent Altarpiece 1432 Interior details – The Church Group
Note how well van Eyck painted the jewellery.
This highlighted an advantage of oil paints
over tempera.

25. Ghent Altarpiece 1432 Interior details – Worshipers

26. Right top corner panel
Altarpiece - InteriorGhentAltarpiece

27. Altarpiece - Exterior
When Ghent Altarpiece is closed,
the paintings on the Exterior tells
the story about the coming of
Jesus.
GhentAltarpiece

28. Exterior details - The angel and the sibylGhentAltarpiece

29. Exterior details - The angelGhentAltarpiece
Angel

30. Exterior detailsGhentAltarpiece
St John, the Evangelist.

31. It was Elisabeth Borluun
and with her husband
Joos Vijdt commissioned
the Ghent Altarpiece
Exterior detailsGhentAltarpiece

32. Van de Paele

33. VandePaele

34. Paele (right) was painted with bald
and wrinkled head, holding his
spectacle, which distorted the text in
the book. Below is the detail of the
costume of St Donatian and St
George.
Van de Paele 1434 Details – Donor, Costume and Armour
The Donor Van de PaeleCostume and armour.

35. Van de Paele
Donatian
St George

36. Van de Paele
Van Eyck’s reflection
on the armour
St George armour

37. Van de Paele
Madonna and Child

38. Costume
A few years later in 1434 van Eyck painted these draperies and the carpet. What has changed? His
mastery of oil painting and the use of optics may have paid an important part.
Van Eyck’s costumes

39. Carving on the throne.
Chancellor Rolin

40. Chancellor Rolin

41. Madonna of
Chancellor Rolin
Nicolas Rolin was
Chancellor of Burgundy
and Brabant. The three
arches are probably
intended to symbolize the
Trinity. Though the
arches is a breathtaking
landscape of a city,
showing the mastery of
Van Eyck in dealing with
perspective and space.

42. Chancellor RolinMadonnaofChancellorRolin

43. MadonnaofChancellorRolin Details – Jesus & Landscape

44. MadonnaofChancellorRolinDetails – Townscape

45. MadonnaofChancellorRolin Town Square
Unbelievable details.
MadonnaofChancellorRolin Angel

46. MadonnaofChancellorRolinDetails – River

47. MadonnaofChancellorRolin Crowning
Madonna and Child.

48. MadonnaofChancellorRolin Angel
Angel holding the crown

49. The Arnolfini Portrait. .1434. 82x60 cm. Oil on
Panel. Jan Van Eyck The National Gallery,
London.
Arnolfini
Portrait

50. The Arnolfini Wedding
Most people are often surprised, when
they see the painting for the first time
because of its small size, about the
size of a bathroom mirror.
We see a rather ugly man with a big
hat holding the hand of a woman, who
looks like that she is pregnant, with
strange hair style and headdress, in a
small bedroom.
We start to wonder why this is a
masterpiece.
This is because we look at the painting
through our modern eyes and judge it
by aesthetics alone. We ignore the
historical context in which it was
painted.
The Arnolfini Marriage.1434. 82x60 cm. Oil on Panel. Jan Van Eyck
The National Gallery, London.

51. The Historical Context
1370 1390 1410 1430 1450 1470 1490 1510 1530 1550
VanEyck
Campin
Da Vinci
Michelanglo
Da Vinci 1452-1519
Michelanglo 1475-1564
Campin 1375-1444
Van Eyck 1390-1441
When van Eyck painted the Arnolfini
Marriage, it was painted over 70 years
before Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or
Michelangelo's Sistine chapel.
Van Eyck’s painting look far more true
to life than his contemporaries in Italy,
as illustrated by the portrait of St Paul
by Masaccio on the right a few years
before the Marriage of Arnolfini.
San Paol. 1426. Masaccio.
Italian. Museo Nazionale. Pisa.
Robert Campin, who also painted in similar way is included in above for comparison.
Giovanna Cenami, 1434.

52. Arnolfini Portrait
Arnolfini was involved in the garment trades. From the raw materials that went into
their garments. It is plain to see how important the Flanders was as a trading hub
of northern Europe, with links to the Eastern Europe, England, the Baltics states
and the Mediterranean Europe. It also shows how wealthy the Flanders was.

53. Arnolfini Portrait
Mr. Arnolfini

54. The Display of Wealth
The house was built with bricks, as can be seen
from the wall shown outside the window.
Underneath the window, with oranges that could
only have come from southern European. The
couple are opulently dressed in fur and
expensive white ermine. The Turkish carpet on
the floor, the hangings on the bed, the mirror and
the chandelier were all items of luxury.
Giovanni Arnolfini was a rich
garment merchant from Lucca,
Italy.
The lady was once thought to be
Giovanna Cenami, daughter of a
prominent Italian financier.
The entire painting is filled with
objects of wealth.Details. Apple on the window
ledge and oranges on the table.
Details. Fur on Arnolfini’s cloth. Fur lining on
Cenami’ cloth. Turkey carpet on the floor.
The Arnolfini Portrait. 1434. Jan Van Eyck.
TheArnolfiniWedding

55. Arnolfini Portrait
Mrs. Arnolfini

56. Allegory & Cultural Symbols
Mirror on the wall.
Chandelier
Giovanna’s clogs
Giovanni’s clogsDog
Allegory is used by painters to
represent abstract concepts like
bravery, faith or royalty.
Religious symbols can be found
littered in the painting; apples as
fruit from the Tree of Knowledge,
the Carving of St Margaret patron
saint of childbirth, Prayer beads
and a single candle on the
chandelier signifying the presence
of Christ.
In contrast, secular symbols were
also used; a dog for fidelity, a bed
for the consummation of marriage,
the blue sleeves & the white lining
worn by the lady denote purity,
clogs cast away representing the
abandoning of daily chores on this
solemn occasion.
TheArnolfiniWedding

57. Arnolfini Portrait
The dog for fidelity

58. Was it a Marriage?
The painting tells us this was an important
occasion. Above the mirror, van Eyck
wrote “Johannes de Eyck fuit hic 1434”
(van Eyck was here) as witness to the
occasion.
So if this was a marriage, then why were
only four persons present, two of whom
only shown in the reflection on the mirror?
Shouldn’t we expect more people?
In the 15th Century it was customary for
the couple to exchange vows before
marriage; an engagement. The painting
depicts the moment when Arnolfini took
the hand of Cenami and raised his left
hand, as he betrothed (vowed to marry)
his future bride. In fact, the painting was
thought to be the Betrothal between
Arnolfini and Cenami.
Arnlfini became a councillor to the Duke of Burgundy
and was knighted in 1462. He died in 1472 in Brugge,
38 years after the painting and two years before the
birth of Michelanglo. Cenami died ten years later and
the couple perished childless, with no evidence that
they had raised any children.
In 1470, Arnolfini was sued by a woman, who wanted
jewellery that he had given her, returned to her. She
also sought a pension and several houses that she had
been promised. So it appears, Arnolfini may have
married Cenami for her money.
Jan van Eyck died seven years after he painted this
picture. He is now widely recognized as one of the
greatest painters who ever lived.
Giovanni Arnolfini, also
painted by van Eyck.
Giovanna Cenami
TheArnolfiniWedding

59. TheArnolfiniWedding
Since the first version of the slideshow,
new interpretations of the paintings has
come to light.
A chance discovery in 1997 that
Arnolfini married his wife Jeanne
Cenami in 1447, 13 years after painting
was painted.
According to Margaret Koster the
painting is a memorial depiction of
Mystery deepened Arnolfini’s first undocumented wife
Costanza Trenta, who died in Feb 1433.
Koster’s strongest interpretation is
based on the two candles on the
chandelier. One burning candle above
Arnolfini and a burn out candle with
dried wax above his wife.
Thus the interpretation of the painting
changes from a marriage to a betrothal
and to a memorial.
Burn out candle holder
with wax on its surface.

60. De LannoyPortrait
Note how well the coat was painted.
Van Eyck
other
paintings

61. Portrait
God on the Altarpiece. 1432.
Van Eyck’s Portraiture
Van Eyck’s was a successful
portrait painter. His portraits
could be frontal, full-length
(left), or profile (above) or
half-length, three quarter
(right) or even double
portraits. He was among the
first to paint the three quarter
pose.
Madonna of Joris van der
Paele (Detail - Paele). 1434.
Jan de Leeuw. 1436.

62. Portrait

63. Cardinal Niccolo Albergti. 1438. Oil on wood.
34.1x27.3 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna.
Portrait

64. Van Eyck’s wife
Portrait

65. Madonna in the Church (Detail). C1438-40. Oil on oak. 31x14 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin.
Religious Painting He painted several Madonna and Child paintings.

66. Relative sizes of paintings

67. Music – Bach, Sheep May Graze Peacefully
All rights reserved. Rights belong to their respective owners.
Available free for non-commercial and personal use.
The diagram shows cabin with a lens. This is called a camera obscura. It is very likely
that Jan van Eyck used such a device or setup to create images on his paintings.
The End

68. Similar Powerpoints

69. Costume
Painted in Italy in 1443, note how the costumes were painted. This was fairly typical of the time.
Italian costumes

70. Italian
landscape
Adoration of the Magi
(detail). 1423 by Gentile
de Fabriano, Uffizi
St George and the Princess of
Trebizond (detail). 1436 by
Pisanello. Church of Sa
Anstasia, Verona.
Landscape

71. Italian landscapeLandscape
Pure landscape painting did not exist in early 15C. Inevitably landscape was used as backdrop for some
paintings. In this period Italian landscape tended to be representational and marginalised for ‘more worthwhile
subjects’. Painters were more interested in the laws of perspective to create the illusion of depth as in the above.

72. Arnolfini Portrait