The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck: Who Is in the Mirror? (1434)
A man and a woman stand side by side in a small room in Bruges. He raises his right hand; she rests her left hand on the folds of a vast green gown. Behind them, a round mirror on the back wall reflects the whole scene from behind, and two more figures standing in the doorway. Above the mirror, in elegant letters, the painter has written that he was there. The Arnolfini Portrait , painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434 and now in the National Gallery in London, is one of the most famous and most argued-about pictures in Western art. Quick facts Artist: Jan van Eyck (active 1422, died 1441) Date: 1434 (signed and dated) Medium: Oil on wood (probably oak), 82.2 × 60 cm Collection: The National Gallery, London (NG186), bought in 1842 Notable fact: The inscription above the mirror reads "Johannes de eyck fuit hic 1434": "Jan van Eyck was here, 1434" Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434. Oil on wood. The National Gallery, London. Image via the Sapiens Verbum print ...