The Cultural Tutor

Upon returning to Iowa he saw something in a town called Eldon: "A trim white cottage, with a trim white porch — built on severe Gothic lines. This gave me an idea. That idea was to find two people who, by their severely strait-laced characters, would fit into such a home."

So Early Netherlandish art was photorealistic in its details and yet, as a whole, highly stylised — the humans are all rigid, solemn figures, and natural scenery was beautifully crafted but somehow not-quite-natural. Well, Wood was inspired.