One of the most notable Northern European writers of the Renaissance was the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. Although there are few documents about his early life and rise to prominence, the Van Eyck family was well regarded in the Burgundian Netherlands, which has allowed historians to surmise that he was born in 1380. After years spent traveling through various northern courts and to gain esteem, Jan van Eyck painted perhaps his most famous work, The Double Portrait of the Arnolfini. This work has been the subject of a great deal of critical analysis as a Renaissance work of art. Some historians have found the work to be demonstrative of artistic and social ideals that were ahead of their time and propagated the line of controversy. However, taking into account the patronage, symbolism, artistic style and function of the painting, it becomes clear that The Double Portrait of the Arnolfini is an example of the artistic conventions of the Renaissance era and is not as difficult to analyze as some critics believe. To discuss the painting in its entirety, it is necessary to explore the context of its creation. The Double Portrait of the Arnolfini is dated 1434 and was probably completed in the same year. The medium for the painting was oil paint on oak panel, and it is one of the few surviving panels from 15th-century Northern Europe. Although the identity of the painting's subjects is still a matter of debate among scholars, it is generally accepted that the male subject is Giovanni Arnolfini and the female subject was his wife. After all, Arnolfini was a successful Italian dealer with the means to commission such a painting, and it was later used as the model for another Van Eyck painting. The general consensus in... the middle of the newspaper... The seen mysteries of the Arnolfini double portrait." FluxBoston.org. Np, July 21, 2007. Web. December 8, 2013. Hicks, Carola. " Girl in the Green Dress: History and mystery of Arnolfi's portrait.” (2008): Chicago. 47-49. Print Harbison, Craig. Jan van Eyck: The Game of Realism, second updated and expanded edition. 2nd. New York: Reakition Books, 2012. 1-32. Print.Harbison, Craig. "Sexuality and social position in Arnolfini's Double Portrait". Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 43, no. 2 (summer 1990), pp. 249–291 Nash, Susan. Oxford Art History: Northern Renaissance Art. 2nd. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. 30-65. eBook.Seidel, Linda. “Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck”: Business as usual? Critical inquiry vol. 16, No. 1 (Fall, 1989), pp. 54-86 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343626