PAINTER

Jan van Eyck

1395 - 1441

Photo of Jan van Eyck

Icon of person Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck ( van EYEK; Dutch: [ˈjɑɱ vɑn ˈɛik]; c. before 1390 – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. According to Vasari and other art historians including Ernst Gombrich, he invented oil painting, though most now regard that claim as an oversimplification. The surviving records indicate that he was born around 1380 or 1390, in Maaseik (then Maaseyck, hence his name), Limburg, which is located in present-day Belgium. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Jan van Eyck has received more than 2,343,890 page views. His biography is available in 79 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 76 in 2019). Jan van Eyck is the 31st most popular painter (up from 32nd in 2019), the 6th most popular biography from Belgium and the most popular Belgian Painter.

Jan van Eyck is most famous for being the first painter to use oil paints.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.3M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 78.56

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 79

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 12.75

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.30

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PAINTERS

Among painters, Jan van Eyck ranks 31 out of 2,023Before him are Eugène Delacroix, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Édouard Manet, Wassily Kandinsky, Hieronymus Bosch, and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. After him are Edgar Degas, Marc Chagall, Jacques-Louis David, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Giotto, and Joan Miró.

Most Popular Painters in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1395, Jan van Eyck ranks 1After him are Vlad II Dracul, Pisanello, Sigismund Korybut, Michelle of Valois, Niccolò de' Conti, Jacques Cœur, Margaret of Prades, Catherine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, George of Trebizond, John Jacob, Marquis of Montferrat, and Tristão Vaz Teixeira. Among people deceased in 1441, Jan van Eyck ranks 1After him are Blanche I of Navarre, Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara, Margaret of Burgundy, Duchess of Bavaria, Catherine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Ashikaga Yoshinori, and Paul von Rusdorf.

Others Born in 1395

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Others Deceased in 1441

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In Belgium

Among people born in Belgium, Jan van Eyck ranks 6 out of 1,190Before him are Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500), Pepin the Short (715), Clovis I (466), Charles Martel (688), and Audrey Hepburn (1929). After him are René Magritte (1898), Leopold II of Belgium (1835), Gerardus Mercator (1512), Maurice Maeterlinck (1862), Andreas Vesalius (1514), and Anthony van Dyck (1599).

Among PAINTERS In Belgium

Among painters born in Belgium, Jan van Eyck ranks 1After him are René Magritte (1898), Anthony van Dyck (1599), Frans Hals (1582), Rogier van der Weyden (1390), Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564), Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568), Jacob Jordaens (1593), James Ensor (1860), Hugo van der Goes (1440), Quentin Matsys (1466), and Paul Delvaux (1897).