“If we want to understand the way in which northern art developed we must appreciate [the] infinite care and patience of Jan van Eyck. Van Eyck… achieved the illusion of nature by adding detail upon detail till his whole picture became like a mirror of the visible world…

“Probably [Van Eyck] was asked to record [the betrothal of Arnolfini] as a witness, just as a notary might be asked to declare that he has been present at a similar solemn act… We do not know whether it was the Italian merchant or the northern artist who conceived the idea of making this use of the new kind of painting, which may be compared to the legal use of a photograph, properly endorsed by a witness. Whoever it was that originated  this idea, he had certainly been quick to understand the tremendous possibilities which lay in Van Eyck’s new way of painting. For the first time in history the artist had become the perfect eye-witness.”

Ernst H. Gombrich, “Chapter 12: The Conquest of Reality,” The Story of Art, 15th edition