ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Early Netherlandish painting

Okay kiddo, have you ever looked at a painting that was made a long time ago and noticed how different it looked from the paintings you see today? Well, Early Netherlandish painting is a kind of painting that people made a very long time ago, in a place called the Netherlands (which is now part of Europe).

So these paintings are special because they were made by artists who were trying to make things look very realistic. For example, if they were painting a person, they would make sure that each hair on their head was painted, and that their clothes looked like they were really made out of fabric.

Another thing that was special about these paintings is that they were usually made with a type of paint called oil paint. This meant that the colors in the paintings were very rich and vibrant.

These types of paintings were made during a time called the Renaissance, which was a time when people became very interested in art, science, and learning. People like to look at these paintings today because they can see how skilled the artists were at making things look real, and how beautiful the paintings look even after all these years.