Belgium

2020

Commemorative coin

Jan van Eyck

Official Journal of the European Union

The inner part of the piece depicts the portrait of the famous Flemish artist Jan van Eyck, together with his signature and a painter’s palette that also contains the initials LL, referring to the designer of the coin, Mr Luc Luycx and two paintbrushes. Above this, you can find the name J. van Eyck. As the Royal Dutch Mint will strike the coins, the mintmark of Utrecht, a mercury staff is located on the bottom together with the Belgian mint director mintmark, the coat of arms of the municipality Herzele. The country code BE and the year mark 2020 is located on the right. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European f lag.

Additional information

Jan van Eyck (~1390-1441) was a Flemish painter of the late Middle Ages and is considered to be the founder and at the same time the most famous representative of Old Dutch painting. With his perfect painting technique and his sense for a realistic representation he initiated the new naturalistic art epoch north of the Alps. His most famous work, the Ghent Altar, returned to St. Bavo Cathedral in 2020 after several years of restoration. On this occasion the city of Ghent is celebrating a "Van Eyck Year". The coin designed by Luc Luycx shows the portrait "Man with Red Turban", created in 1433 and part of the inventory of the London National Gallery, which is considered a self-portrait of the painter. Under the occasion of issue "J. van Eyck" his signature "Johannes de Eyck" is shown at the left side.

Edge lettering

Designer