Portrait of a Man with Carnation

Jan van Eyck's Portrait of a Man with Carnation, dated 1436 and housed in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, depicts an unidentified man holding a pink carnation—a symbol variously interpreted as representing betrothal, divine love, or mortality. The portrait exemplifies the revolutionary achievement of Van Eyck's portraits: the transformation of the flat medieval likeness into a fully three-dimensional, psychologically present individual emerging from darkness.

Van Eyck's oil technique creates luminous flesh tones through transparent glazes over a light ground, with the carnation rendered with botanical precision and the sitter's features captured with unflinching naturalistic detail.