This picture is--Portraits of a Flemish Gentleman and Lady, standing in
the middle of an apartment, with their hands joined. In the back-ground
are a bed, a mirror, and a window, partly open; the objects in the room
being distinctly reflected in the mirror. A branch chandelier hangs from
the ceiling, with the candle still burning in it; in the foreground is a
small poodle. In the frame of the mirror are ten minute circular
compartments, in which are painted stories from the life of Christ; and
immediately under the mirror is written “Johannes de Eyck fuit hic,”
with the date 1434 below. This signifies literally, “John Van Eyck was
this man,” an interpretation which leads to the conjecture that this may
be Van Eyck’s own portrait, with that of his wife, though in this case
the wife’s name should have been written as well as his own; and the
expression is not exactly that which would have been expected. The words
are, however, distinctly _fuit hic_. As already mentioned, the date of
the picture is 1434, when John Van Eyck was, according to the assumed
date of his birth, in his fortieth year, which is about the age of the
man in this picture. Van Mander speaks of the painting as the portraits
of a man and his wife; or bride and bridegroom: it may be a bridegroom
introducing his bride to her home.
This picture, about a century after it was painted, was in the
possession of a barber-surgeon at Bruges, who presented it to the then
Regent of the Netherlands, Mary, the sister of Charles X., and Queen
Dowager of Hungary. This princess valued the picture so highly, that she
granted the barber-surgeon in return, an annual pension, or office worth
100 florins per annum. It appears, however, to have again fallen into
obscure hands; for it was discovered by Major-General Hay in the
apartments to which he was taken in 1815, at Brussels, after he had been
wounded at the battle of Waterloo. He purchased the picture after his
recovery, and disposed of it to the British Government in 1842, when it
was placed in the National Gallery. It is the oldest painting in the
collection.