Beginnings

Jan van Eyck was traditionally trained with his brother, Hubert, in the Ghent tradition. Although his date of birth is not known, he is thought to originate from the town Maaseik in Belgium (then called Limburg).  

From 1422 -24 van Eyck was first a court painter for John of Bavaria, Count of Holland at the Hague. Following the count’s death, he went into the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Philip used van Eyck as a secret agent of sorts; he sent him on a mission to retrieve the Isabella Infanta’s hand in marriage in Portugal. There he stayed from October 1428, until December 1429, and although he painted during his stay, he only knowingly completed two portraits of the Infanta, and painted the original Fountain of Life. Van Eyck later used her dress in the famous Ghent Altarpiece on the Eritrean sibyl.