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| Jan van Eyck |
| 1395-1491 |
| European Artist |
| Little is known of van Eyck's origins, but he probably came from Maaseik, Holland. He is first heard of in 1422 working in The Hague for John of Bavaria, ruler of Holland. Scholars consider Jan van Eyck to be the single most influential Flemish painter of the northern Renaissance and one of the greatest masters of all time. He served as court painter to two powerful patrons, first John of Bavaria, Count of Holland, and then Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Although not the inventor of the new technique of painting on panel with an oil-based medium, van Eyck is universally recognized as the genius who perfected it. His career and reputation rest above all on his achievement as a painter in the oil technique, although he appears also to have produced illuminations for manuscripts. His works, whether on panel or parchment, offer stunning illusions of reality on many levels: space, atmosphere, texture, and above all, the sensitive treatment of the effects of light. |
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