Jan van Eyck or Johannes de Eyck (ca. 1385-1441). Dutch painter considered one of the greatest painters of the late Middle Ages. From the age of 30, he began to emphasize veracity in his paintings; this broke the conventions of the former Gothic style, which glamorized reality. His naturalism and realism soon grew into the Flemish school of painting, to which belonged painters such as Bosch, Peter Brueghel, van Dyck or Rembrandt. Eyck experimented with technique and was interested in the theory of light (therefore, he began to use brighter, more saturated colours). He was behind the major improvements and expansion in oil paints. His The Arnolfini Portrait or Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife is among the most original works of its time. It is an oil on oak showing spouses living in the Flemish city of Bruges.