Jan Van Eyck

- In 1425, he became court painter to Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy who was the uncle of the king of France and one of the most sophisticated men in Europe

- The duke alluded to Jan's remarkable technical skills in a letter of 1434-1435, saying that he could find no other painter equal to his taste or so excellent in art and science.

- So brilliant was Jan's use of oil glazes that he was mistakenly credited with the invention of OIL PAINTING!

-Since these letters also form an anagram of his own name, most scholars see this painting as a self portrait in which physical appearance seems recorded in a magnifying mirror

-In his painting it appears as though his eyes do the same as the Mona Lisa does

-In his lifetime, one of the most famous works of Jan was a huge polyptych with a very complicated and learned theological program that he painted for a chapel in what is now the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent.

-He has carefully controlled the lighting within this multi-panel ensemble to make it appear that the objects represented are illuminated by sunlight coming through the window of the very chapel where it was meant to be installed.

-The Ghent alterpiece may have been Jan's most famous painting during his lifetime, but his best-known painting today is a distinctive double portrait of a couple identified as a Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife

-More normal on a signature would have been "Jan van Eyck made this" so the words "was here" might suggest that Jan served as a witness to a matrimonial episode portrayed in the painting.