How Jan van Eyck revolutionised painting

We know tantalisingly little about Jan van Eyck, but one thing is sure. He once spent a week in Falmouth. In 1428 Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, sent a formal delegation of nobles and courtiers to negotiate his marriage with Isabella, daughter of the King of Portugal. One of these was Van Eyck.

The official party set off from the port of Sluis in Flanders on 19 October, and arrived the next day in Sandwich, where they then spent a fortnight waiting for two Venetian ships to get there from London. Once embarked, they were driven by gales to take refuge in ports on the English coast, including Falmouth.

In the surviving account of the trip, Van Eyck (d.1441) is described as ‘an exquisite master of the art of painting’. There is an enormous amount we do not know about him — including when he was born — but one thing is clear: he was an artist of stupendous accomplishments.