Arnolfini Portrait

Van Eyck’s richly detailed double portrait shows a well-dressed man and woman in a private room. Symbolic details and even the identities of the sitters have led to centuries of debate. The mirror may include a tiny self-portrait of Van Eyck himself, reflected among the figures entering the room. The painting is admired for its brilliant oil technique and meticulous, lifelike detail.

The painting was first recorded in the collection of Don Diego de Guevara, a Spanish diplomat at the Habsburg court. It then passed to Margaret of Austria, where it appears in royal inventories in 1516 and 1523/24. The painting later passed to Mary of Hungary and then entered the collection of Philip II of Spain, where it remained in Spanish royal palaces for more than two centuries. During the Peninsular War, it was removed from Spain and acquired by Colonel James Hay. In 1842, the National Gallery in London purchased the painting, where it remains today.