>>5899308I was shitposting and being hyperbolic obviously, but I'll give you a serious response.
Van Eyck is great but you're wrong, he pales in comparison to Leonardo.
It's a shame so little of his work survived in tact, especially the last supper, but you can clearly see his superiority in the field of art in his sketchbook, few people can compare, even in the zenith of art (the baroque) to him.
As far as contemporary artists go, they are superior in imitating a photograph, yes, but I haven't seen a single one whose work compares in grace and beauty, and often times even in the purely technical department, to him.
If there's one key issue with today's painters, is that they care too much about getting things visually accurate (and to a photograph of all things), and care little about actually creating a beautiful work of art.
Ironically it's the asians who are the closest to the old european masters. Despite their obsession with children's cartoons and other dumb shit, they still make far more convincing, and most importantly ,beautiful work, than the vast majority of western artists.
