1430 Campin paints the way it is
Robert Campin, also known as the Master of Flémalle, brings to Flemish painting a natural and everyday quality which is entirely new

1432 Ghent altarpiece by van Eyck
A new altarpiece is installed in the cathedral in Ghent, introducing the powerful realism of Jan van Eyck

1434 Arnolfini employs van Eyck
Giovanni Arnolfini, a merchant from Lucca trading in Bruges, commissions from van Eyck a portrait of himself and his wife

1435 Chancellor Rolin painted with Virgin
Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, of Burgundy, commissions an altarpiece from Jan van Eyck

1435 Van der Weyden is painter to city of Brussels
Rogier van der Weyden, the third in the extraordinary trio of Flemish artists of the 1430s, is appointed painter to the city of Brussels

1460 Oil paint moves south
Oil paints, long familiar in the Netherlands, begin to be adopted in Italy in place of tempera

1468 Bosch works in his home town
Jerome van Aken works almost exclusively in his native s' Hertogenbosch, from which he derives the name Hieronymus Bosch

1475 Portinari ships altarpiece home
Tommaso Portinari, the Medici agent in Bruges, commissions an altarpiece from Hugo van der Goes for his family church in Florence

1503 Bosch paints garden of delights
Hieronymus Bosch paints the most detailed of his exotically surreal canvases, The Garden of Earthly Delights

1565 Brueghel sets Bible scenes in Netherlands
Pieter Brueghel the Elder depicts biblical events taking place among the peasants of the Netherlands countryside

1608 Rubens back in Antwerp
Rubens returns from Italy to Antwerp, where he soon establishes Europe's most successful and prolific studio

1618 Van Dyck works in Rubens' studio
The 19-year-old Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck is employed by Rubens in Antwerp as his chief assistant

1620 Hals is the man for a group portrait
The Dutch painter Frans Hals displays exceptional brilliance in his group portraits, including several of the civic guards of Haarlem

1628 Rembrandt's first self-portraits
The Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn develops a life-long interest in self-portraiture

1631 Rembrandt moves to Amsterdam
Rembrandt moves from his home town of Leiden to set up a studio in Amsterdam

1634 Rembrandt marries Saskia van Uylenburgh
Rembrandt marries Saskia van Uylenburgh, who will feature in many of his paintings

1640 Gerritt Dou is fine painter
The Dutch artist Gerrit Dou paints with exquisite precision and becomes leader of a group known as the 'fine painters'

1641 Paintings on sale in Dutch markets
The profusion of paintings on sale in Holland astonishes an English visitor, John Evelyn

1645 Cuyp's glowing landscapes
The Dutch artist Aelbert Cuyp paints landscapes that glow with the warmth of gentle sunlight

1653 Vermeer paints quietly in Delft
Jan Vermeer marries and begins a quiet career as a painter and art dealer in his home town of Delft

1655 De Hooch reveals the Dutch interior
The painter Pieter de Hooch is a friendly guide through the welcoming spaces of the seventeenth-century Dutch courtyard and home

1815 David moves his studio Brussels
Jacques-Louis David, unmistakably identified as Napoleon's painter, is banished from France after the fall of the emperor and moves to Brussels

1886 Van Gogh in Paris
Dutch painter Vincent Willem van Gogh moves from Antwerp to Paris

1917 De Stijl in Holland
Piet Mondrian and other Dutch artists establish the movement known as De Stijl, together with a magazine of the same name

1927 Magritte has one-man show
The Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte has his first one-man show, at the Galerie Centaure in Brussels