, a Flemish painter who worked in Bruges, is most well known for his enigmatic portrait of Giovanni (? The oranges on the window sill were a sign of wealth in the Netherlands, but they also referred to fertility in the couple’s native Italy. Only the privileged few were able to see their own faces. A list of acknowledgements and sources can be found HERE. Furthermore, all of the biblical scenes carved into the frame of the convex mirror are about Christ’s death and resurrection on her side of the portrait and Christ’s life on his. Thee oranges In Bruges, oranges were a rare delicacy imported from the far south. The mirror behind the couple is considered to represent “the eye of God” witnessing the nuptials, as is the single lit candle in the chandelier. Van Eyck was intensely interested in the effects of light: oil paint allowed him to depict it with great subtlety in this picture, notably on the gleaming brass chandelier. The dog This is a brussels griffon, the descendant of a long line of flanders terriers bred to catch rats. The circular, slightly convex surface was the only shape available for mirrors made of glass– which were a rare domestic item. The fruit and its blossom were symbols of love and marriage, and doctors recommended that oranges be carried in order to stave off the plague. It has become a symbol of marriage, yet the identity of the couple and the meaning of the scene are still uncertain. Change ), This is a text widget, which allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. The painting is likely a wedding portrait. Nearly every detail in this full-length double portrait is imbued with significance. My interest in the Arnolfini Portrait came about after deciding in October 2015 to make a simple study of the Stations of the Cross in St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham. At its surface the painting can be viewed as a domestic scene in Flanders during the fifteenth century, a simple room with its contents and some personal items belonging to the two people in the room. The mirror The mirror supplies a new subject – two more people entering the room. Edit them in the Widget section of the, article, art historian Margaret Koster argued for a fascinating alternative theory on the painting. The Arnolfini Portrait is iconographic in style. There are several websites devoted to Jan van Eyck and the Arnolfini Portrait, but a comprehensive presentation is the Arnolfini Portrait Wikipedia page. Although I have no knowledge of art history I visualised the venture as an active and personal commitment to the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy pronounced by Pope Francis the same month. The husband’s tabard is lined with pine marten – the next best thing – and its plum tones are another statement of wealth, for dark dyes were more expensive to produce. The carving could represent Giovanni’s hope the saint will intervene on behalf of his departed wife’s soul. His wife is not pregnant, as is often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in the contemporary fashion. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. . PORTRAIT OF GIOVANNI ARNOLFINI AND HIS WIFE. The wife’s gown has astonishing dimensions – a replica made in 1997 by students from the Wimbledon School of Art required 35 metres of material. Neither will my presentation strip the painting of its enigmatic nature. ( Log Out /  Artists liked to pose women in a pregnant stance, whether they were or not, as fertility was an essential quality in a wife. They combined trade with finance and were the first merchant bankers. Most of my research was through internet sources during a three-month period, mid-April to mid-July 2016. As fecundity was considered a primary reason for marriage at the time, we see several references to pregnancy, including the green color of the woman’s dress which represents hopefulness and a fertile womb. The ornate Latin signature translates as ‘Jan van Eyck was here 1434’. You can use them to display text, links, images, HTML, or a combination of these. Symbols relating to fertility are prevalent in this depiction of a wealthy couple in their bedchamber. The set of 14 stations was produced by the Belgian sculptor Frans De Vriendt and installed in the Cathedral in 1875. Detailed research undertaken over many years by art historians, academics and analysists has not conclusively identified the couple or its setting, and the painting has remained an enigma. Although ageless in the principal message it presents, the Arnolfini Portrait is also a voice of its time. 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