Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck

Jan van Eyck ( van EYEK, Dutch: [ˈjɑn vɑn ˈɛik]; c. before 1390 – 9 July 1441) was a 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, most likely 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 2,044,300 page views. His biography is available in 76 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 74 in 2019). Jan van Eyck is the 32nd most popular painter (down from 25th in 2019), the 6th most popular biography from Belgium (down from 2nd in 2019) and the most popular Belgian Painter.

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