The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin

Jan van Eyck painted The Madonna of Chancellor Rolin around 1435 for Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy. Rolin kneels before the Virgin and Child in a luxurious loggia with columns opening onto an extraordinarily detailed landscape. A tiny river town visible through the arches is so precisely rendered that historians have tried to identify specific buildings.

The chancellor commissioned himself depicted at the same scale as the Virgin, without any saint interceding on his behalf. This unprecedented presumption may reflect his immense political power. Van Eyck lavished attention on every surface: the gold brocade of Rolin's robe, the crown jewels of the Christ child, the distant mountains fading into atmospheric haze.

The painting originally hung in the cathedral of Autun, Rolin's birthplace. The Louvre acquired it during the Revolution. Modern magnification reveals microscopic details invisible to the naked eye.