1.
Art in Detail
The Ghent Altarpiece
Part 1

2.
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece, wings open
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece, wings closed

3.
The panels of the open Ghent Altarpiece
lower section

4.
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece: The Just
Judges
1427-30
Oil on wood, 145 x 51 cm
Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent

5.
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece: The
Soldiers of Christ
1427-30
Oil on wood, 149,2x 54 cm
Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent

6.
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece: The Holy
Hermits
1427-30
Oil on wood, 148,6 x 53,9 cm
Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghen

7.
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece: The Holy
Pilgrims
1427-30
Oil on wood, 148,7 x 54,2 cm
Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent

8.
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece: Adoration
of the Lamb
1425-29
Oil on wood, 137,7 x 242,3 cm
Cathedral of St Bavo, Ghent

9.
Art in EYCK, Hubert and Jan van, The Ghent
Altarpiece, wings open
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10.
EYCK, Hubert and Jan van
The Ghent Altarpiece
The most famous work of Jan van Eyck is a huge Ghent Altarpiece with many scenes in the city of Ghent. It is said to
have been begun by Jan's elder brother Hubert, of whom little is known, and was completed by Jan in 1432. On the
frame a quatrain is inscribed which states that the polyptych was begun by Pictor Hubertus Eyck, and finished by his
brother Jan, at the request of Jodocus Vijd, deputy burgomaster of Ghent, warden of the church of St John, and of his
wife, Elisabeth Borluut, who commissioned it. The verse was placed there when the altarpiece was installed on 6 May
1432.
The stylistic analysis reveals that in the painting the work of two different hands can be clearly discerned. The overall
conception of the altarpiece is the work of Hubert, along with the execution of certain parts, such as the panels in the
lower tier. Here, the manner is archaic, and reflects the continuing dominance of the international style that was
practised by Broederlam. The composition is typically unoriginal: the landscape is still conceived as a distant
background, with which the figures at the front have no organic relation, an effect that is reinforced by the bird's eye
point of view.