Van Eyck

However, in most cases, the family name refers to an origin in Maaseik.

[1] Names with an affix (tussenvoegsel), like Van der Eijk, are more likely to refer directly to the tree.

The important Flemish family of Early Netherlandish painters with the surname van Eyck originated in Maaseik, but ultimately established their professional domicile in Ghent and in Bruges.

There they changed the traditional habits of the earlier schools, remodeled the earlier forms of Flemish design, and introduced a substantial revolution into the technical methods of execution familiar to their countrymen.

Jan van Eyck, active in Bruges, is probably the best known Northern European painter of the 15th century.