Jean Baptiste van Eycken

Jean Baptiste van Eycken (16 September 1809 – 19 December 1853) was a Belgian historical and religious painter.

He was the son of Corneille van Eycken and Elise Cordemans, and as a boy was employed in commercial pursuits, but from 1829, when his father died, he gave himself over entirely to the study of art.

In 1830 he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts of Brussels under François-Joseph Navez and Paul Delaroche,[1] in 1835 gained an important prize with high distinctions, and four years afterwards was appointed professor of drawing and painting.

In that year he exhibited his great picture of Divine Pity (La clémence divine), which was warmly received and brought him a gold medal and a high position in the Société des Beaux Arts de France.

His best-known picture perhaps is entitled Abundance, a replica of which the artist was employed to make for Prince Albert, according to the instructions of the queen of the Belgians, Marie-Louise.