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Van Eyck's double portrait of an Italian merchant and his wife is a marvel of early oil painting, dense with symbolism — the little dog for fidelity, the single lit candle, the convex mirror reflecting the whole room. The signature reads 'Jan van Eyck was here,' an unusually personal flourish. Its optical realism astonished contemporaries.
The Arnolfini Portrait
- Date1434
- MovementNorthern Renaissance
- WhereNational Gallery, London
- RegionBritain