Van Eyck: The Portraits

Jan van Eyck basically invented portraiture as we know it today. Before he came along in the 1430s, depictions of people were mostly (but not always) rigid, flat and unrealistic, representing general religious archetypes rather than real-life figures. Van Eyck’s paintings, on the other hand, capture all the intimate details of craftsmen, merchants and members of his family, from subtle stubble to flushed cheeks to bloodshot eyes. At the time, it was a truly radical approach. This National Gallery exhibition will mark the first time that all ten of the artist’s surviving portraits are on display together. They include the Arnolfini Portrait and the Portrait of a Man from Berlin, a pair of paintings depicting what is thought to be the same sitter (unprecedented back then for anyone who wasn’t royal). The pieces are so fragile that they very rarely travel, so consider this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.