Why it matters
Saint Barbara sits reading in front of the huge Gothic tower in which her pagan father imprisoned her. Drawn on a chalk ground, it may be an unfinished painting, or, if finished, the earliest surviving drawing by any artist.
Did you know?
- It is signed and dated 1437.
- The blue in the sky may be a later addition.
- It was highly valued in its own time as an object in itself.
Based on the Wikipedia article Saint Barbara (van Eyck) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
