Portrait of Jan de Leeuw [SEP] collection
Portrait of Jan de Leeuw
Portrait of Jan de Leeuw is a small 1436 oil on wood painting by the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. De Leeuw was a goldsmith living in Bruges; most art historians accept that, given the familiarity of the portrait, that he and van Eyck knew each other and were on good terms. The work is still in its original frame, which is painted over to look like bronze.
Like the London self-portrait, the painting
of the canvas of "Léal Souvenir" is painted as if to simulate marked or scarred stone and contains three separate layers of inscriptions, each rendered in an illusionistic manner, giving the impression they are chiseled onto stone. van Eyck often set the inscriptions as if in the sitters voice, so that they "appear to be speaking". Examples include the "Portrait of Jan de Leeuw" which reads "... Jan de [Leeuw], who first opened his eyes on the Feast of St Ursula [21 October