Jan van Eyck Giclée Fine Art Prints 2 of 2

Jan van Eyck (c. 1390/00-1441) was a Renaissance foreman in the countries of the North. He made a huge impact in Europe with his incredible ability to recreate reality. He is known for perfecting the technique of oil painting.

From 1422 to 1424 he was in the service of John of Bavaria, Count of Holland, Zeeland and Hainault, probably as a miniaturist, and in 1425 he was appointed chamberlain to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, with whom he would remain until his death. In 1429 he settled in Bruges; in 1432 - together with his brother Hubert - he completed the Altarpiece of the Lamb of God (polyptych) in Ghent. The work marked a significant stage in the new manner of treating space and volumes by means of painting. Particularly striking is the scale of the figures in the panels above. Van Eyck was an astute portraitist - he developed Portrait of the Arnolfini Family as an interior in which he is present through his reflection in the mirror.

In Chancellor Rollin's Madonna he skilfully handles the transparency of light, opening the horizon to the garden, then to an imaginary city, each detail painted with such grace and precision that one could distinguish the types of flowers in the garden. The commissioning artist, Nicolas Rollin, is depicted in a prayerful pose before the Virgin Mary with the child Jesus raising his hand in blessing. He donated the painting to the Congregational Church in Otton, from where it would be seized during the Revolution.