Jan van Eyck · 1434
The Arnolfini Portrait
Jan van Eyck
The Arnolfini Portrait
1434
Jan van Eyck's 'The Arnolfini Portrait' (1434) records the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife in their Bruges bedchamber. A mirror on the back wall reflects two witnesses at the door; the signature above reads 'Johannes de Eyck fuit hic' ('Jan van Eyck was here'), making the painting simultaneously a double portrait, a legal record, and a virtuoso demonstration of the new Netherlandish oil technique. Acquired in 1842, it has been a central treasure of the National Gallery in London for nearly two centuries.
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