If Joes van Eyck and Margaret van den Huntfanghe, who are entered in the register of the Ghent Guild of Painters for 1391, are the parents of the two masters who have made the name of Van Eyck immortal, we should have proof of their descent from artistic stock, which may be taken for granted in view of the fact that not only Hubert and Jan, but also a third brother, Lambert, and a sister, Margaret, devoted themselves to the art of painting, though Lambert--if he really be responsible for the pictures which stand to his credit--was a man of but mediocre talent; whilst we have no evidence of the activity of Margaret, who was most probably a miniaturist or illuminator. It is believed that Hubert (or Huybrecht) van Eyck was born at Maaseyck, or perhaps at the village of Eyck near that town, between 1366 and 1370, and that he received his artistic training either at Cologne or at Maastricht; but the first definite mention we have of him {10} is in Ghent, where he eventually settled, and where, in 1424, the archives record that he was paid certain sums for drawings. Though Mr. Weale and other authorities hold the view that, before settling in Ghent, Hubert must have travelled to the South of Europe, there is absolutely no evidence to this effect. The paintings of the two brothers certainly contain details which reveal intimate acquaintance with Southern vegetation and mountain formation; but, as will be seen later, Mr. Alfred Marks has fairly well established the fact that the younger brother, Jan, must be held responsible for such paintings or portions of paintings as prove the knowledge of Nature in the South of Europe. The name of Hubert van Eyck occurs in two other documents, quoted by Edmond de Busscher in his "Recherches sur les Peintres Gantois," but the authenticity of both these entries has lately been questioned. The first of them, which is proved to be a forgery, records the admission of Hubert and of his sister, Margaret, into the Confraternity of Our Lady of the Rays at Ghent in 1419; the other the affiliation of Hubert and Jan, in 1421, to the Corporation of Painters and Sculptors of Ghent. {11} According to the wording of the latter entry, it may be gathered that the election of the two masters was so enthusiastic and unanimous that the Corporation dispensed with the conditions and formalities usual on the admission of free masters to the guild. This unusual affiliation, of which the _Livre du Métier Gantois_ does not reveal another example, is there quoted as a homage rendered to the memory of Michelle de France, Countess of Flanders, and first wife of Philip the Good, who appears to have held the two brothers in special favour. The Corporation, in thus granting to them the professional franchise of Ghent, at the same time expressed their esteem for their talent, and the pious remembrance in which they held the memory of their Queen Consort.