Van Eyck is now seen as the artist who bridged the gap between the medieval and the modern. The Enlightenment had quietly placed Van Eyck in the Gothic tradition. Then Napoleon looted panels of his masterwork, the Ghent altar-piece, and took them back to the Louvre. Now, centre stage in the greatest art gallery of the time, interest in the work of Van Eyck exploded across Europe. The 19th Century saw Van Eyck mania with ever-more fanciful tales in the press of his life as monkish painter, murderer, arsonist, and inventor of oil-painting, with Van Eyck carpets and mirrors, scenes from his...