JAN VAN EYCK: “The marriage Arnolfini”, 1434 - oil on canvas, 81.8- 59.7 cm. - London, National Gallery

The fact of that in the heart of quattrocento, a merchant from Italy, a country of exceptional artists, called Giovanni Arnolfini, chose a Flemish painter - Jan van Eyck- to paint a portrait of his wife and himself was not as exceptional as it could seem, since the commercial contacts between both countries favored these contacts. Nevertheless, the result of this order was truly exceptional.

Despite being one of the most famous and important pictures of the History of Art, the Arnolfini portrait is a work full of mysteries and allegorical elements. First, it is not clear if the man in the portrait is Giovanni Arnolfini or his brother Michele and his wife Elisabeth. The apparent state of pregnancy of the lady has also caused debate, since many experts think that such pregnancy does not exist, and that it is not more than a canon of beauty from the 15 th century. The curved mirror of the wall - skilful mastery of the perspective by van Eyck- shows us that, in addition to the portrayed marriage, there are two people more in the room, one of them the painter. Even the inscription - signature of the wall, Johannes de Eyck fuit hic. 1434. (Jan van Eyck was here. 1434.) made some experts to think that the masculine figure is a self-portrait of the painter, option discarded by almost all the modern students. All in all, one of the most important paintings of all the European Renaissance.