Biographies

Jan van Eyck (1395 – 1441) Born in Maaseik, in what is now Belgium, he was the Flemish painter who perfected the newly developed technique of oil painting. His naturalistic panel paintings, mostly portraits and religious subjects, made extensive use of disguised religious symbols. His masterpiece is the altarpiece in the cathedral at Ghent, The Adoration of the Lamb (1432). His Arnolfini Marriage anticipates Vermeer. He died in Bruge.