Statue Jan Van Eyck

This statue in honor of Jan Van Eyck from 1878 is by H. Pickery.

He designed this statue which is 3.75 m high and weighs about 1,780 kg . After many changes and approvals, the statue eventually ended up on Jan Van Eyckplein, where the inauguration was done by King Leopold II.

It replaced an earlier statue from 1820, which the people of Bruges found too small .

Jan Van Eyck was born in Maaseik in 1390 as the descendant of a family of painters. He worked as a painter and diplomat and settled in Bruges . Jan Van Eyck was one of the first painters to use oil as a binding agent for his paints. He was, together with his brother Hubert, the most important representative of the Flemish Primitives . Jan Van Eyck probably died on 9 July 1441 in Bruges and was buried in the then St-Donaas Church, which was razed to the ground under French rule, so that the last traces of the painter disappeared.

Willem Vandenameele