Jan van Eyck - Portrait of a Young Man. Léal Souvenir 1432
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Portrait of a Young Man 1432
33x19cm oil on oak
National Gallery, London, UK
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From National Gallery, London:
The words 'Léal Souvenir' (Loyal Remembrance) are painted on the parapet as though carved into the stone. They may mean that the portrait is an accurate likeness or, conceivably, that it was a posthumous, commemorative likeness. The sitter has not been identified; he is not grandly dressed and is unlikely to be an aristocrat or a cleric.
The inscription in Greek letters has been read as 'Tymotheus' (Timothy), but it seems to be a transliteration into Greek script of two words in Latin, 'tum otheos' meaning 'Then God'. What this signifies is not clear.
The reverse of the picture is painted in imitation of marble. The translation of the inscription along the bottom of the parapet reads 'Done in the year of Our Lord 1432 on the 10th day of October by Jan van Eyck'.