Our events are recorded and on-demand to ticket holders for one month. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit UK museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations.
Jan van Eyck, Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1433. National Gallery, London.
This autumn the National Gallery in London is staging a remarkable exhibition of the work of Jan van Eyck, described as bringing together ‘all nine of the artist’s painted portraits’, making up half of his surviving works worldwide. There are, however, more portraits that will not be included. In at least three of his religious commissions there are entirely lifelike images of the patrons, and these include, most famously, the donors of his masterwork, the Ghent Altarpiece. In this study evening Richard Stemp looks at all of his known paintings to help us discover all of van Eyck’s portraits and to place them in the context of his career as a whole.
Study Evening includes two lectures, Q&A and a short break. Tickets £20
Lecture One — The first talk considers the wide range of the artist’s religious works, many of which focus on the Virgin Mary. These range from meditations on her life and her interactions with her son, Jesus, to her relationship with the Church itself. There are also carefully realised representations of Saints, either on their own, or in groupings relevant to the donors who are also, apparently, present, featuring as some of the portraits which are the subject of these talks.
Lecture Two — After a short break we look at the exhibition itself, with its nine highly prized images which have never been in the same room before. It is worth remembering that three of these are part of the National Gallery’s own collection, and one, the Arnolfini Portrait, ranks not only as probably the most important by this artist, but also as one of the most important portraits of the whole 15th century.
Van Eyck: The Portraits exhibition is at the National Gallery, London, from 21 November 2026 to 11 April 2027.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live with Q&A, or on-demand for one month afterwards. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends.