The Early Modern World, C. 1300–1600

Northern European Renaissance

Who was Jan van Eyck?

Jan van Eyck (d. 1441) was one of the most significant painters of the fifteenth century. He worked in Burgundy and is most well known for the Ghent Altar-piece, a monumental work of tremendous realism and detail. Jan van Eyck came from a family of artists and was known to have worked alongside his brother, Hubert. The van Eyck brothers likely worked together on the Ghent Al-tarpiece. Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, was one of their most significant patrons. Some of van Eyck’s most important paintings include Portrait of a Man in a Turban (1433), which might be a self-portrait, and the Arnolfini Portrait (1434).