Ritratto di Isabella del Portogallo

This is a portrait that no longer exists, and it was never really meant as art. In 1428 the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, was looking for a wife, and he sent Jan van Eyck south with an embassy to Portugal to paint the king's daughter, Isabella, so he could judge her face before committing. Portugal was in the grip of plague, so the court kept moving, and van Eyck finally met her at a remote castle. He painted her twice, and the two versions were sent home by different routes, by land and by sea, so that at least one would survive the journey. The match held: Philip and Isabella married on Christmas Day, 1429. Both of van Eyck's portraits are long lost, and we know the face only from later copies.