Jan Van Eyck perhaps reached his greatest triumph in the painting of portraits. One of his most famous portraits which represents an Italian merchant, Giovanni Arnolfini, who had to come to the Netherlands on business with his bride Jeanne de Chenany. A simple corner of the real world had suddenly been fixed on to a panel as if by magic. Here it was the carpet and the slippers, the rosary on the wall, the little brush beside the bed, and the fruit on the windowsill. |