Oil! Oil! Oil! Jan Van Eyck

We start with the greatest triumph of all. Jan van Eyck. Can anyone beat him in sheer technical prowess? In his exquisite understanding of detail? On the intensity of his colouring? Arguably the greatest artist of the whole period, this was a man who broke new ground every step of the way. The Ghent Altarpiece, the Arnolfini Portrait, the supposed Self-Portrait…paintings that simply defy belief. With van Eyck and his sensational use of oil paint, the Netherlandish Renaissance begins. Reverberations are sent across Europe and permeate the whole century.