All ten surviving portraits by the pioneering Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck will be brought together in London for the first time this winter in what the National Gallery describes as a landmark exhibition.
‘The Arnolfini Portrait’, 1434 and ‘Margaret, the Artist’s Wife’, 1439
The exhibition, opening at the National Gallery on 21st November 2026, will bring all ten of the artist’s portraits and about half of the twenty or so surviving autograph pictures by one of the supreme figures of the Northern Renaissance.
It marks the first time all of his portrait paintings have been shown together.
Among the highlights is the first-ever display of the National Gallery’s Arnolfini Portrait alongside Portrait of a Man from Berlin, bringing together two depictions of what is thought to be the same sitter. Art historians say the existence of two portraits of the same non-royal individual was unprecedented at the time and suggests an unusually close relationship between artist and subject.
The exhibition will also reunite, for only the second time, Van Eyck’s Portrait of an Elderly Man from Vienna with the preparatory drawing that inspired it. The silverpoint and goldpoint study, on loan from Dresden, is Van Eyck’s only surviving drawing and is regarded as the earliest surviving record of a formal portrait sitting.
Another notable loan sees Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum lend both of its Van Eyck paintings simultaneously for the first time, allowing Portrait of an Elderly Man and Jan de Leeuw to be displayed together in London.
The exhibition will also feature Van Eyck’s newly conserved Portrait of a Man from the National Gallery alongside his portrait of his wife, Margaret, from Bruges. Painted in 1439, it is considered the earliest dated identifiable portrait of a non-aristocratic woman and reflects the artist’s expansion of portraiture beyond royalty and the nobility.
Alongside the portraits, visitors will see Van Eyck’s only surviving drawing and three further contemporary drawings, illustrating both his working methods and the influence his approach had on other artists of the period.
The exhibition will also reveal another aspect of Van Eyck’s work by displaying several portraits “in the round” for the first time, allowing visitors to see the painted reverses and illusionistic frames that formed part of the artist’s original designs.
Widely regarded as one of the founders of modern painting, Van Eyck transformed portraiture through his extraordinary realism and attention to individual character, depicting details such as bloodshot eyes, stubble and untidy hair with unprecedented precision. The exhibition will also explore his innovative use of painted inscriptions, imitation stone and metal frames, and the growing status of artists during the Northern Renaissance.
The exhibition, Van Eyck: The Portraits, runs at the National Gallery from 21st November 2026 to 11th April 2027.
Tickets go on sale in September, with pricing still to be confirmed.