Hubert was born, perhaps about 1365, at Maas Eyck, from which he takes his name.

Maas Eyck was a little town on the banks of the river Maas, near the frontier of the present Holland and Belgium.

He may have spent most of his life in Ghent, the town officials of which city paid him a visit in 1425 to see his work, and gave six groats to his apprentices in memory of their visit.

Where he learnt his art, where he worked before he came to Ghent, we do not know for certain, but there is reason to think that he was employed for a while in Holland by the Count.
John, his brother, concerning whom more facts have been gathered, is said to have been twenty years younger than Hubert.

He was a painter too, and worked in the employ of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and Count of Flanders, the grandson of Philip the Bold, who was one of those four sons of King John of France mentioned in our last chapter.
Philip the Good continued the traditions of his family and was in his time a great art-patron.