Based on: W.H. James Weale, Hubert and John van Eyck, their life and work, London, 1908

1422-1425. Payments to Master John van Eyck, painter, in the service of John of Bavaria, Count of Holland, for work executed at the palace of The Hague from Oct. 24 1422 - Sept. 11, 1424. 8 lions / day, apprentices 2 lions / day

3.Aug. 2, 1425. Payment 20 L to Jan van Eyck in consideration of the trouble and expense incurred by him in moving from Bruges to Lille by order of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, who, by letters of patent dated May 19, 1425, had appointed him his official painter.

7.Aug. 26, 1426. Payment to Jan van Eyck of 91 L 5 S of 40 groats to the L for a certain pilgrimage which the Duke had ordered him to perform in his name, and on account of a secret journey which he had ordered him to make to certain distant places of which no mention is to be made.

22.Sept. 12, 1434Payment to John Pentin, goldsmith, of Bruges, of 46 L 12 S 40 gr. fl. to the L for 6 silver cups weighing 12 marks, presented by the Duke to Jan van Eyck at the baptism of his child, held at the font by Peter de Beaufremont, lord of Charny, in the name of the Duke.

24.Mar. 12, 1435. Letter addressed by Philip, Duke of Burgundy, to the officers of the chamber of accounts at Lille. He hears they have raised difficulties to the verification and registration of his letters patent granting a life pension to his painter, Jan van Eyck, in consequence of which the said Jan is inclined to leave his service. This would very greatly displease him, as he is about to employ Jan on certain great works and could not find another painter equally to his taste nor of such
excellence in his art and science. Therefore he bids them, on receipt of this, to register his letters granting pension, without further argument, delay, alteration, variation, or difficulty whatever, under pains of incurring his displeasure and wrath.

25.1435. Payment of 30 L gr. to Master Jan van Eyck for painting and gilding six statues and the tabernacles in which they stand, adorning the front of the town-house, and of 3 L 12 S gr. for overwork on the same.

27.1436. Payment of 360 L to Jan van Eyck for certain distant journeys to foreign parts on some secret business undertaken by order of the Duke.

28.1439. Payment of 6L 6S 6D to Jan van Eyck in reimbursement of a like amount paid by him to an illuminator of Bruges who had illuminated book for the Duke, in which are 272 large letters in gold, and 1200 small.

30.July 9, 1441. Receipt of 13 L 4S Parisis by the treasurer of the fabric of St. Donatian's church at Bruges, for the burial fees of Jan van Eyck.

31.July 22, 1441. Payment of 360 L to Margaret, widow of Jan van Eyck, being the amount of a gratuity granted to her by the Duke, in recognition of the
good and agreeable service rendered to him by her deceased husband, and out of compassion for her and her children.

36.1450. Payment of 24 L to Livina, daughter of the late Jan van der Eecke, painter, my lord's servant, being a gift from him to enable her to enter
the monastery of Maaseyck, in the land of Liege.

Bartolommeo Fazio (ca. 1439-1456)-- describes van Eyck as a man of literary culture, proficient in geometry, and a master of "all arts that may be added to the distinction of painting"..."the foremost painter of our age."

Apr. 23, 1458, During the triumphal entry of Philip the Good into Ghent, the Ghent rhetoricians built a 3 level platform 50 feet x 28 feet with compartments corresponding to the panels of the Ghent Altarpiece, which was "closed" by a white curtain.

Jean Lemaire de Belge, "La Couronne Margaritiqueo, 1504 (printed 1549) ugues de Gand, qui tant eut les tres netz y fut aussi, et Dieric de Louvain Avec le roy des peintres Iohannes du quel les faits parfaits et mignonnetz ne tomberont jamais en oubly vain.

Albrecht Dürer, 1521 (Diary) -- [April 10, 1521, from St. John's, Ghent]: Then I saw Johannes' picture; it is a most precious painting of high understanding, and the Eve, Mary, and God the Father are especially good.

Michelangelo ( Francisco de Hollanda, "De Pintura Antiguao, 1548) -- see Snyder text, p. 88.

Vasari 1550, 1558, in the Life of Antonello da Messina, describes van Eyck as the inventor of oil painting.

Van Mander, "Het Schilderboek, 1604. (see the trans. by van de Wall, there is much too much to give here). In praise of van Eycks angels in the Ghent
Altarpiece: they are painted so exquisitely and so well that one can detect readily, from their facial expressions, who is singing the higher part, the high counter part, the tenor part, and the bass.