Jan van Eyck’s oil painting Madonna of Chancellor Rolin was commissioned by Nicolas Rolin, the 60-year-old counsel of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, in 1435. The result is one of the 15th century’s most overlooked masterpieces. It shows the Virgin Mary presenting the baby Jesus to Rolin; an angel above her holds a crown over her head. The figures are captivating, but it is the background that fascinates the viewer. The sumptuous room of Romanesque design looks out onto a river that divides Jesus’s heavenly Jerusalem on the right and Rolin’s terrestial realm on the left. The Louvre is placing the painting alongside other works by Van Eyck, on loan from around the world and never before viewed together in just this way. —Elena Clavarino