Portrait of a Man with Carnation

The man holds a small bunch of carnations, and that detail carries the meaning: in the 15th century the flower was a token of betrothal, so this is probably an engagement portrait, made to mark or propose a marriage. Around his neck hangs a chain that has never been securely identified. The picture comes from the last years of Jan van Eyck's life, dated by the tree-rings of its oak panel to about 1435, though scholars still argue whether the master painted it himself or a close follower in his workshop did. Either way it carries his manner: the cool grey light, the fur-lined hat, the unsparing record of an ageing, ordinary face. It hangs now in the Gemaeldegalerie in Berlin.