Jan Van Eyck: A Renaissance Artist

Vincent van Gogh is one of the world’s most well-known artists. He was the son of a pastor and was brought up in a religious atmosphere. He thought his true calling was to preach the gospel like his father. He became a preacher in a small coal mining town. This is when he starting becoming very interested in the people and things that surrounded him. He became an artist at the age of 27.

Jan van Eyck has been one of the more prominent early Netherlandish painters during his time. He has had many famous works, however one of his more interesting and questionable pieces is The Arnolfini Portrait. There is much to be desired in this painting by the great van Eyck. Van Eyck has been a master painter most of his career, but in this painting he is able to show how his excellent painting skills can bring this painting to life. The Arnolfini Portrait, which measures 82 × 59.5 cm (32.3 × 23.4 in) is an oil painting on oak panel dated 1434. This painting is also known by other as The Arnolfini Wedding, The Arnolfini Marriage, The Arnolfini Double Portriat, or Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife. It is one of the only 15th century

The early life of Jan van Eyck remains partially unknown as records did not reveal factual information regarding his birth and childhood. An inference states that van Eyck was “born somewhere around 1390 in the village of Maaseyck” (Hughes and Faggin 5). Many years of his life were not documented and kept in records, but the few years before the creation of the Ghent Altarpiece, or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, van Eyck’s records points out that he was rather active. Van Eyck was appointed by Philip the Good and the Duke of Burgundy to relay important missions that allowed him to live a fortunate lifestyle as a painter. Patronage, during this time, became more sought after since the influx of new methods and exceeded expectations grabbed the attentions of patrons. Also, since van Eyck’s abilities seemed unmatched at the time, Philip the Good declared, “he would never find a man so much to his taste, or such a paragon of science and art” (Hughes and

Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most famous painters of all time. His style was post-impressionism. He was a Dutch man, born in an averaged sized town called Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. The reason he became an artist, and the thing that influenced him the most to become an artist was actually his mother. His mother was interested in nature, she did a lot of drawing and watercolors and that really influenced her son heavily and got him into art. When he was fifteen years old, his family was really struggling with their finances. Because of this, he was forced to get a job and help them provide. It ended up that his uncle owned an art dealership, so he got a job there.

In the article “Sexuality and Social Standing In Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait” the author analyzes the religious and social grammars of marriage. This short paper will be a reflection of Harbison’s article that discusses religious and marital norms throughout, with also analyzing various sections of van Eyck’s piece, for example: implying the piece as a marriage document or contract of the marriage, which immediately makes the viewer look deeper into the double portrait. All of this helped me realize that pieces of art are not simply “pictures,” rather they are narratives like a scene in a documentary. The author starts the article with a clear thesis of analyzing the social religious and marital norms when this piece was made.

Especially for his time, van Eyck often signed and dated his paintings in their frames, then considered an integral part of the work (the two were often painted together). In the most substantial early source for him, a 1454 biography by the Genoese humanist Bartolomeo Facio (De viris illustribus), Jan van Eyck was named "the leading painter" of his day. Facio places him among the best artists of the early 15th century, along with Rogier van der Weyden, Gentile da Fabriano, and Pisanello. It is particularly interesting that Facio shows as much enthusiasm for Netherlandish painters as he does for Italian painters. This text also sheds light on aspects of Jan van Eyck's production now lost. Jan van Eyck likely had some knowledge of Latin for his many missions abroad on behalf of the Duke. Jan van Eyck died in Bruges in 1441 and was buried there in the Church of St Donatian (destroyed during the French Revolution). (From

Jan van Eyck painted portraits and religious paintings during the Northern Renaissance. He painted portraits of royalty and other wealthy people. Van Eyck also painted religious paintings for the church. Van Eyck was one of the only Northern Renaissance painters who could read and write. He signed his own paintings with a clever signature. He also wrote lengthy inscriptions on his paintings. Van Eyck’s work is still copied today.

For My Museum Essay, I have chosen Rogier van der Weyden’s “St. Luke drawing the Virgin” (c. 1435-40). First of all, this painting is an extraordinarily beautiful piece of art, with both meticulous details and true to life emotional state of the figures portrayed. And it intrigued me even more when I found out that there is a very compositionally similar painting by Jan Van Eyck (“Madonna with Chancellor Rolin”).

One style of painting Raphael favored all throughout his career was that of creating Madonnas over his short life; those are what made Raphael famous in Florence. The way Raphael created his Madonnas, Madonna meaning Mary, the mother of Jesus, portray Mary as a loving, caring human woman. Many other artists before Raphael portrayed Mary as an

This Flemish artist lived 1390 to 1441. He pioneered oil based painting. He did many portraits and even traveled to Portugal in order to paint King Philip I’s future wife. Completed in 1434, one of his most famous paintings is the Arnolfini portrait. Unsurprisingly, it is a double portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife. Jan van Eyck included many symbols in this painting, including the dog and the shoes. The dog represents fidelity and the cast-off shoes allude to holy ground. Jan van Eyck payed attention to the miniscule details in his Renaissance

Neoclassical Art was an art form that followed the Baroque and Rococo art periods. Neoclassicism was a way for artists to display their wish to return to meaningful art, to escape the frivolity of landscapes and still life paintings, and paint something that had a moral, educational or inspirational value to the viewer. Neoclassical art was an attempt to return knowledge and purity back to art. Neoclassicism was mainly focused on Greek and Roman arts and stories of the classical era with some new advancement. It was a revival of antiquity.

Rembrandt van Rijn is known for his self-portraits and biblical knowledge. Rembrandt drew many self-portraits that time line his life changes and appearance. Dutch artist Rembrandt is considered to be one of the greatest painters in European history.

Quentin Massays has been considered as "one of the leading members of the Flemish Painting school in Antwerp during the 16th century" (Quentin Massys). His work shows overlapping with Old Masters like Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Bruges artist Jan van Eyck (1395-1441), Hugo van der Goes (c.1440-1483) and Roger van der Weyden (1399-1464) and influences or derivation of elements from the work of these artist can be seen in his own work as well. He has to his claim many a work, with his most valuable contribution to the Netherlandish Renaissance art being that he became the first artist to portray humans as humans only and not the divine being that they had

In 1880 at the age of twenty-seven Van Gogh moved to Brussels to become an artist. He studied with Willem Roelofs a Dutch artist. He then attended the Royal Academy of Art where he studied anatomy and perspective.

Although Jan Van Eyck was one of the most influential artists during his time period, his work, Lucca Madonna is fairly unknown. Whilst researching Jan Van Eyck the work rarely appeared unless one research specifically the name.