Although many things been discovered about this portrait and its meaning, there are still mysteries about it. Although we are fairly sure who the man was, the woman’s identity is still uncertain. We don’t know whether all the objects in the room in which the couple are standing are simply things they owned or whether they may be symbolic.

The picture was painted in minute detail by a highly skilled artist, and it has been treasured since it was painted in 1434. Van Eyck was one of the pioneers of the technique of oil painting. He used glazes (thin layers of paint applied on top of one other) to build up the rich colours and textures of materials such as velvet or wool.

Some objects in the room tell us that this couple were Christian: the tiny circles around the edge of the convex mirror contain pictures of scenes from Jesus’ Passion and Crucifixion. On a chair back by the bed is a statue of St Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth.

Jan van Eyck (active 1422–41)

Van Eyck was a court painter at the Hague, and at Lille where he worked for the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good. At Lille he was also a courtier, making several secret diplomatic missions on behalf of Philip. He also worked as an independent master painter in Bruges.

Title: Mr and Mrs Andrews
Artist: Gainsborough
Medium: oil on canvas
Date: c. 1750

Robert Andrews married Frances Mary Carter in Sudbury in 1748, and this portrait was probably painted a few years later. Also in 1748, Gainsborough had set up as a portrait painter in Sudbury, his native town. Gainsborough did not often include identifiable views in his portraits, but in this case there was a strong reason to: the church is the St Peter’s in Sudbury where the couple were married, and the land around them is their property. Mrs Andrews brought with her half of the estate they are sitting in. So the painting is also about ownership, not only of the land with its neatly stacked sheaves of corn, but also Mr Andrew’s ‘ownership’ of his new wife.

Gainsborough was to become particularly famous for the way he painted fabrics: look at Mrs Andrew’s shiny satin dress, and her husband’s baggy beige jacket.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88)

Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk and set up as a portrait painter there after spending some time in London working with a French engraver, Gravelot. He had no formal training. In 1759 he moved to the fashionable city of Bath, where he made his reputation. He eventually settled in London, where his clients included King George III and his wife Queen Charlotte. Although Gainsborough painted over 700 portraits, he especially loved landscapes, which he mainly painted for his own pleasure.

Title: The Ambassadors
Artist: Holbein
Medium: oil on wood
Date: 1533

This full-length and life-size portrait was painted in London, but none of the people involved in it were English. The two sitters were French: Jean de Dinteville was French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII, and his friend Georges de Selve was bishop of the French town of Lavaur. The artist Holbein was German. He was in London hoping to become painter at Henry’s court, and the scale and richness of this picture may well have been designed to impress the king as well as the sitters.

This portrait is much more than a likeness of two people: the objects between them are probably symbolic. They may stand for the kind of education these men would have been proud to have had. But some of them may also refer to religious and political events of the time: the broken string on the lute, and the Protestant and Catholic hymns in the open book in front of the lute, perhaps say something about the divisions in society caused by the Reformation.

The distorted skull on the floor is a memento mori, a reminder of death. It was not unusual for a skull to be included in a portrait. From a Christian point of view, having a portrait of yourself made could be seen as vanity; the skull reminds the viewer that wealth and learning all come to an end with death. What is exceptional in this painting is the distortion of the skull: to see it in correct proportion you need to look at it from the side of the picture. Perhaps Holbein was simply demonstrating his outstanding skill as a painter. He could paint every kind of texture – fur, metal, wood or silk – to look as real as in life, and he could even paint something to look unidentifiable from one angle and obvious from another.

Hans Holbein (1497/8–1543)

Holbein was born into a family of painters from Augsburg in Germany. His father, uncle and brother were all painters, but Hans is by far the best known of them today. He worked and travelled in Switzerland, Italy and France before arriving in England in 1526. Here he painted a portrait of Sir Thomas More (Chancellor of England) and his family, which became famous but is now lost. He finally settled in London in 1532 and became painter to Henry VIII five years later. At the court he painted and drew portraits, but also designed jewellery and clothes, bookbindings, silverware, and accessories for pageants.

Title: Self Portrait at the Age of 34; Self Portrait at the Age of 63
Artist: Rembrandt
Medium: (both) oil on canvas
Date: 1640; 1669

These two self portraits show Rembrandt at two different stages of his career. At the age of 34 he was one of the most famous painters in Amsterdam: he was rich, successful and confident; and this is how he paints himself. Rembrandt based the pose on two pictures by the Renaissance artist Titian, one of which was believed to be a portrait of the poet Ariosto. Perhaps the message in this self portrait is: ‘Not only am I as good as a more famous Italian artist, but a painter is as important as a poet.’ (There was a continuing debate about which of the arts ranked most highly.)

In the later self portrait, Rembrandt seems less concerned with his image as a painter and more with his physical appearance: the clothes are painted in much less detail; and all attention is focused on his ageing face, which is painted in a much looser and freer style than the earlier one. By now he was no longer a fashionable painter; he was bankrupt, and both his partner and his son had died.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669)

Rembrandt was born in Leiden in Holland, and in the early 1630s he moved to Amsterdam, where he remained. He immediately became a highly popular portrait painter, but he also painted Biblical and historical scenes. His fame also spread through his etchings. He made self portraits throughout his career, recording his appearance and experimenting with different expressions, and he probably used these self-portraits to promote himself as an artist.