The elder brother is supposed to have been the better
painter, because the most celebrated work of the brothers--the St.
Bavon altar-piece, parts of which are in Ghent, Brussels, and
Berlin--bears the inscription that Hubert began it and Jan finished
it. Hubert was no doubt an excellent painter, but his pictures are few
and there is much discussion whether he or Jan painted them. For
historical purposes Flemish art was begun, and almost completed, by
Jan van Eyck. He had all the attributes of the early men, and was one
of the most perfect of Flemish painters. He painted real forms and
real life, gave them a setting in true perspective and light, and put
in background landscapes with a truthful if minute regard for the
facts. His figures in action had some awkwardness, they were small of
head, slim of body, and sometimes stumbled; but his modelling of
faces, his rendering of textures in cloth, metal, stone, and the like,
his delicate yet firm _facture_ were all rather remarkable for his
time.
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