here in 1434 jan van eyck shows giovanni arnolfini a hugely wealthy italian moneylender and tapestry dealer to duke philip the good of burgundy. he's about to marry an equally wealthy young italian, giovanna cenami, whose family lived in france and here you see the shifty, rabitty banker one hand raised and the other joined to that of his new bride. the artist proclaims his witnessing presence in a bold, gothic legal inscription in latin. this reads "jan van eyck was here." while italians were developing their illusionistic art with the assistance of mathematically reasoned perspective, northern painters, led by jan van eyck, used many translucent layers of pigments in quick-drying oils to produce uniquely convincing pictorialism.