The Arnolfini Portrait
Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441) · 1434
A merchant and his wife stand hand in hand in a Bruges bedroom, every surface — chandelier, oranges, little dog, convex mirror — rendered with impossible precision.
Why it matters
Northern oil technique announcing what it can do: a whole world, and its reflection, in a domestic room painted six hundred years ago.
What to notice
In the convex mirror two visitors enter the room — one perhaps the painter; above it he wrote 'Jan van Eyck was here. 1434.'
Context
Painted in Bruges at the dawn of the oil medium van Eyck did more than anyone to perfect.
Themes
Marriage, prosperity, the sanctity of the everyday interior.
Legacy
From this room descend Vermeer's interiors and every painted reflection since.
About the artist
Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441). The Flemish master who perfected oil painting itself — glazes so fine that candlelight, brass and fur seem present rather than painted.
Early Masters (c. 1300–1500): Before the Renaissance there was the icon: flat, golden, eternal. Then Giotto gave figures weight and grief, Masaccio gave them space, and painting began its long walk off the gold ground and into the world.
Walk the Grand Gallery → See this painting hung in its wing, with music and guided tours, in the full virtual museum.