Dutch and Flemish painting in the period from 1420 onwards is characterised by a new sense of reality. Within the heyday of Old Netherlandish painting, which lasted for about a century and is regarded as the high point of the Renaissance north of the Alps, the invention of oil paint made transparent glazes possible, giving the paintings a depth of colour and luminosity that had not been seen before. The main focus is on the structure of the surfaces, with the aim of depicting the materiality of the materials in a meticulous and astonishingly naturalistic manner.