Hubert van Eyck (also Huybrecht van Eyck) (c. 1370–90 – 18 September 1426) was a Flemish painter and older brother of Jan van Eyck. He was probably born in Maaseik, Flanders, now in Belgium.
He became court painter to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, settling in Ghent by c. 1420. Shortly afterwards, he began his only surviving documented work, the Ghent Altarpiece in the Saint Bavo Cathedral. However the painting was not finished until six years after his death, in 1432, so the degree to which the surviving altarpiece reflects his work, rather than that of Jan who took it over, remains much discussed. Writing in 1933, art historian Bryson Burroughs, who at that time attributed to Hubert the Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych and whom he describes as "the fountainhead of northern painting", suggests he did the underdrawing for the Ghent Altarpiece with Jan painting in after his brother's death. An inscription on the altarpiece, presumably composed by Jan, credits Hubert with the inspiration and major role in the work, but today this is often regarded as overgenerous. Given the circumstances, the Ghent Altarpiece is a difficult work to use for comparison when assessing other attributions, especially as several other artists from the brothers' workshops probably worked on it as well.
The town Magistrates of Ghent visited his workshop in 1425. He died on 18 September 1426 and was buried in Saint Bavo’s Cathedral. A copper inscription recording his date of death was engraved on the tombstone, but is now missing. According to a tradition from the 16th century, his arm was preserved as a relic in a casket above the portal of Saint Bavo of Ghent.
The division of surviving works between Hubert, early Jan van Eyck, and other painters has been the subject of great debate among art historians, involving the Ghent Altarpiece, the Turin-Milan Hours and other pieces. After a period in the mid-20th century when the tendency was to attribute work away from Hubert, he has made something of a comeback in recent decades, but there is still a wide range of opinion among specialists.
Famous quotes containing the word van:
“Unlike Descartes, we own and use our beliefs of the moment, even in the midst of philosophizing, until by what is vaguely called scientific method we change them here and there for the better. Within our own total evolving doctrine, we can judge truth as earnestly and absolutely as can be, subject to correction, but that goes without saying.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)