Master of the Northern Renaissance, perfecter of oil painting
A painter of the Netherlands and founder of the Northern Renaissance. He pushed oil technique to an unprecedented fineness, able to paint the glint of metal, the nap of fur, the reflection in a mirror. In the Arnolfini Portrait, the convex mirror in the background reflects the whole room and the painter himself — with astonishing realism he turned a small room into a world you could step into.
On the wall of the Arnolfini Portrait hangs a tiny convex mirror, and in it are reflected not only the couple’s backs but two figures at the door — one believed to be van Eyck himself. Above the mirror he even wrote, gravely, "Jan van Eyck was here." More than five hundred years ago, he was already playing the game of "the painter hiding himself in the painting."
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.