Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?)

The inscription at the top of the panel, Als Ich Can (intended as "as I/Eyck can") was a common autograph for van Eyck, but here is unusually large and prominent.

[a] The original frame survives (the vertical sides are in fact a single piece of wood with the central panel), and has the painted inscription "JOHES DE EYCK ME FECIT ANO MCCCC.33.

As too few of his paintings survive (the confidently attributed and extant works number somewhere in the low 20s) to judge his prolificacy, the degree of detail and skill indicates that they took months rather than days to complete.

[5] His weary facial expression is achieved through a combination of his strong nose, tightly pursed wide mouth and the framing of his face by the headdress.

[5] The costume is appropriate for a man of van Eyck's social position, and the motto is his personal one, otherwise only appearing on two surviving religious paintings, two more known only from copies, and the portrait of his wife.

Some art historians view the work as a form of calling card for prospective clients, where van Eyck may be saying "look at what I can do with paint, how lifelike I can make my figures".

[6] The man is not, as it is commonly thought, wearing a turban, but a chaperon with the ends that normally hang down tied up over the top, which would be a sensible precaution if it was worn whilst painting.

The emphasis on the sitter's sharp and keenly intelligent bloodshot eyes is a further subtle clue, one found again later in Albrecht Dürer's 1500 Self-Portrait.