Discuss the role that the merchant class played in fostering the careers of several artists who specialized in oil painting.

What will be an ideal response?

The ideal answer should include:
- In cities like Bruges and Antwerp, art was a major commodity, and the relatively inexpensive cost of oil paintings made the medium extremely popular.
- The rising merchant class created an economy that could support art, especially painting.
- This new business class represented a new audience for artists, in both the North and South. Motivated by the marketplace, artists sought to please this new class.
- Artists, like Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, and Hieronymus Bosch, thrived in this new marketplace economy located in Northern centers of culture.
- These artists developed new techniques particular to the use of oil paint, which allowed for a painting of unprecedented realism, with no obvious brushstrokes.