Hubert van Eyck Paintings and the Ghent Altarpiece
Hubert van Eyck is one of the most elusive masters of the early Netherlandish school. The single surviving inscription on the great Ghent Altarpiece calls him maior quo nemo repertus, “the greatest painter ever found”, but only a handful of paintings can be securely attributed to his hand, and he died in 1426 before the completion of the work that bears his name. The Hubert van Eyck paintings that survive today therefore stand at the very threshold of Western oil painting, a small group of luminous panels at the moment when the Flemish revolution was about to remake European art.
This article gathers six of his most important surviving religious works, all of them connected to the great Ghent Altarpiece that he began with his younger brother Jan van Eyck.
The Elder van Eyck
Hubert van Eyck was born around 1370 in Maaseik, a small town in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the elder brother of the more famous Jan. He is documented in Ghent from at least 1424 onward, where he received the commission from the wealthy patrician Joos Vijd and his wife Elisabeth Borluut for a great polyptych in their family chapel in the church of Saint John, today Saint Bavo’s Cathedral. He died on 18 September 1426, leaving the altarpiece unfinished, and his younger brother Jan van Eyck completed it by 1432.
What part Hubert played in the conception and execution of the altarpiece has been debated by scholars for almost six centuries. The 1432 inscription on the frame attributes the beginning of the work to Hubert and the completion to Jan. Modern infrared and dendrochronological analysis has confirmed that two hands were at work in the underdrawings, and most specialists today accept that the upper panels of the Adoration of the Lamb and the great Deisis figures of God the Father, Mary, and John the Baptist were begun by Hubert and finished by Jan after his death.
The Ghent Altarpiece (open)
Begun by Hubert van Eyck before 1426 and completed by his brother Jan in 1432, the great Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, also called the Ghent Altarpiece, is the founding masterpiece of European oil painting. The open view of the polyptych shows the cosmic adoration of the Lamb of God in the central lower panel, with God the Father enthroned in glory above, flanked by the Virgin and John the Baptist, and the angel choirs of Adam and Eve at the far ends.
The altarpiece still hangs in the chapel for which it was painted, at Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent.
The Ghent Altarpiece (closed)
The closed view of the polyptych, which would have been the standard appearance throughout the medieval liturgical year, shows the Annunciation across the four upper central panels, with the prophets and the sibyls in the lunettes above and the donors Joos Vijd and Elisabeth Borluut with Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in the lower wings. The Annunciation panels are commonly attributed to Hubert van Eyck’s hand, with refinements added by Jan after his brother’s death.
For a wider survey of the Annunciation subject, see our article on famous Annunciation paintings.
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb
The central lower panel of the Ghent Altarpiece is the most reproduced single image of the early Netherlandish school. The Lamb of God stands on the altar at the centre of a flowering meadow, his blood pouring into a chalice. Around him gather the prophets, the apostles, the popes, the bishops, the martyrs, the virgins, the confessors, and the holy hermits, in concentric ranks of contemplative adoration. The composition is built directly on the imagery of the Book of Revelation.
The panel still hangs in its original chapel at Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent.
Saint Christopher Leading the Pilgrims
One of the four flanking panels of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, this composition shows Saint Christopher leading the pilgrims of God toward the central altar. The giant saint, traditionally said to have carried Christ across the river, here carries the whole concept of pilgrimage as a Christian metaphor for the soul’s progress toward salvation. The figures behind him are dressed in the costumes of fifteenth century Flemish travellers.
The panel still hangs in Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent, in the chapel of the Ghent Altarpiece.
The Just Judges
The fourth and most controversial of the four flanking panels of the Lamb, the original Just Judges was stolen from Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in April 1934 and has never been recovered. The panel visible in the altarpiece today is a copy made by the Belgian restorer Jef Van der Veken in 1939, after the original. The composition shows a procession of dignitaries in fifteenth century Flemish court costume, traditionally identified as the just judges of biblical and contemporary law.
The copy still hangs in Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent. The original remains one of the most famous unsolved art thefts of the twentieth century.
The Three Marys at the Tomb
One of the very few independent panels traditionally attributed to Hubert van Eyck, this small composition shows the three holy women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Mary Salome, arriving at the empty tomb of Christ on Easter morning. An angel sits on the open sepulchre and gestures toward the discarded shroud while the soldiers sleep around the tomb. The attribution to Hubert rather than to Jan or to a member of their workshop remains debated.
The painting is at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, having passed through the Cook Collection in Richmond.
For more context on Hubert’s Netherlandish world, see our article on his younger brother Jan van Eyck, and on the next generation of Rogier van der Weyden, who absorbed the lessons of the Ghent Altarpiece in his own Brussels workshop.
Summary Table of Hubert van Eyck’s Religious Paintings
| Name | Artist | Date | Medium | Museum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Ghent Altarpiece (open) | Hubert and Jan van Eyck | begun before 1426, completed 1432 | Oil on panel | Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent |
| The Ghent Altarpiece (closed) | Hubert and Jan van Eyck | begun before 1426, completed 1432 | Oil on panel | Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent |
| The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb | Hubert and Jan van Eyck | completed 1432 | Oil on panel | Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent |
| Saint Christopher Leading the Pilgrims | Hubert and Jan van Eyck | completed 1432 | Oil on panel | Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent |
| The Just Judges (copy by Jef Van der Veken) | after Hubert and Jan van Eyck | copy of 1939 | Oil on panel | Saint Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent |
| The Three Marys at the Tomb | attributed to Hubert van Eyck | c. 1420 to 1425 | Oil on panel | Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam |
Conclusion
Hubert van Eyck is the elder of the two brothers who reshaped the visual world of Northern Europe. His exact contribution to the Ghent Altarpiece will probably never be perfectly settled, but his name on the frame of the most important early oil painting in the world is reason enough to count him among the great founders of the Flemish tradition. The cosmic Adoration of the Lamb, with its concentric ranks of prophets and saints, remains the visual model of late medieval Catholic eschatology, and its panels are among the most studied images in the history of Western religious art.
Important Facts About Hubert van Eyck
- Hubert van Eyck was born around 1370 in Maaseik, in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, the elder brother of the painter Jan van Eyck and a member of a family of craftsmen of Maaseik.
- He is documented in Ghent from at least 1424, where he received the commission from Joos Vijd and Elisabeth Borluut for the great polyptych of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb for their chapel in the church of Saint John, today Saint Bavo’s Cathedral.
- Hubert van Eyck is one of the founding figures of the early Netherlandish school and is celebrated as the elder collaborator of his brother Jan in the production of the Ghent Altarpiece, the founding masterpiece of European oil painting.
- His most famous religious work is the great Ghent Altarpiece, begun by him before 1426 and completed by his brother Jan in 1432, still preserved in the chapel of Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent.
- He died on 18 September 1426 in Ghent, before the completion of the altarpiece, and his exact contribution to it remains the most debated single question in the historiography of fifteenth century Northern European art.
Questions and Answers About Hubert van Eyck Paintings
What is Hubert van Eyck’s most famous painting?
The single most famous work associated with his name is the great Ghent Altarpiece, begun by him before 1426 and completed by his brother Jan in 1432. It is still preserved in the chapel of Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent. The central panel of the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb is one of the most reproduced sacred images in the history of European art.
Where can I see Hubert van Eyck paintings today?
The Ghent Altarpiece and its surviving panels are at Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent. The Three Marys at the Tomb, traditionally attributed to Hubert, is at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. No other paintings are securely attributed to him, although several other small panels have been suggested as possibly his work over the years.
What style is Hubert van Eyck associated with?
Hubert van Eyck is one of the founding figures of the early Netherlandish school, sometimes also called the Flemish Primitives. His mature style sits at the very beginning of the European oil painting tradition, and his contribution to the Ghent Altarpiece shaped the calm linear refinement, the dense observed detail, and the luminous atmospheric distance that would define the Flemish school for the next century.
How did the Just Judges panel get stolen?
On the night of 10 April 1934, an unknown thief broke into Saint Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent and removed the Just Judges panel from the Ghent Altarpiece. A series of ransom letters followed, but the panel was never recovered. The thief was eventually identified as a Belgian stockbroker named Arsène Goedertier, who confessed on his deathbed. The copy by Jef Van der Veken made in 1939 still hangs in the place of the missing original.
What is the difference between Hubert and Jan van Eyck?
Hubert was the elder brother and probably the master of the family workshop in Ghent. He died in 1426 and is associated with the early conception of the Ghent Altarpiece. Jan, the more famous younger brother, completed the altarpiece by 1432 and went on to produce all the other panels by which the Van Eyck name became famous, including the Arnolfini Portrait and the Madonna of Chancellor Rolin.
Why is Hubert van Eyck so little known?
Almost no documents survive from his lifetime, and the only secure attribution to him is the disputed contribution to the Ghent Altarpiece. He died young, in 1426, before the great Flemish school could attach his name to a body of identifiable independent panels. By the time Carel van Mander wrote his Schilder-boeck in 1604, even the basic facts of Hubert’s career had become legendary, and modern art history has had to reconstruct his contribution almost entirely from infrared and dendrochronological analysis of the Ghent Altarpiece itself.
Where can I buy Hubert van Eyck paintings reproductions?
The shop at jesuschrist.pictures offers museum-quality canvas reproductions of the great Christian paintings, and the collection keeps growing; it is the best place to look for Hubert van Eyck paintings reproductions.
