From the description and period of the painting, it seems that we're talking about "Madonna of the Chancellor Rolin" (c. 1435) by the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441). We see the painting below. Thus the interest in the secular world is shown in the man with the book and in the setting and the landscape.
Both elements tell about an interest in studies and indicate the presence of scientific curiosity by the painter. The man in the painting is studying with a book in his lap, indicating the activity was a routine.
The setting and the landscape, by its turn, show an interest in the outside world instead of indoors -- which was the main setting of medieval art --, and it's painted in one-point perspective.