MASTERPIECE

'my husband Johannes completed me in the year 1439 on 17 June / my age was thirty-three'. Jan (Johannes) van Eyck painted this information in Latin at the top and bottom of the frame. The inscription stands out because it is phrased as a sentence spoken by the person portrayed, Jan’s wife, Margareta van Eyck. Margareta is looking at us as she is telling us this. Van Eyck painted a similar inscription on the frame of the portrait that he did in 1436 of an acquaintance of his, the Bruges goldsmith Jan de Leeuw. In this way, Van Eyck gave the people who were close to him their own voice. Van Eyck painted the entire frame as well as the back of the panel as if it was made of valuable marble rather than wood. For this reason, the painting does not hang on the wall in the Groeninge Museum but is displayed from both sides.