Blog Arnolfini

Jan Van Eyck 

I have always loved The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait by Jan Van Eyck but known little about it though I have admired it several times over the years in the National Gallery, London, its owner since 1842. By chance, I recently read a small entry in The 500 Hidden Secrets of Bruges by Derek Blyth published last October, which included 5 Famous Foreigners in Bruges. The first famous man was Giovanni Arnolfini and I immediately thought of the portrait and my interest was fired!

I had never connected the portrait with Brugge despite it being the city of Jan Van Eyck so I was delighted to discover that it was almost certainly painted here in 1434, probably in the Arnolfini house of that time. Effectively comprising two full-length portraits, the couple is shown in an upstairs room with a chest and a bed, during a day in early summer, indicated by the fruit on the cherry tree outside the window. The two figures are richly dressed; despite the season, both his tabard, probably of silk velvet, and her dress, are trimmed and lined with fur; his doublet partially hidden beneath the tabard is of silk damask. Her dress has elaborate dragging [cloth folded then sewn together then cut and frayed decoratively] on the sleeves while the green of her outer dress symbolises hope, possibly the hope of her becoming a mother. Her blue under-dress is trimmed with white fur. The whole painting radiates wealth, privilege and elegance. Although many viewers assume the wife to be pregnant, this was probably, simply a fashionable look for women’s dresses at the time. Fashion would have been important for Arnolfini as a cloth merchant as would the popular conceit that the more cloth the subject of a painting wore, the more wealthy she was assumed to be. Giovanna's dress uses copious amounts of cloth!

The unmistakeable wealth of the clothes is echoed in the room’s interior. Furnishings include a large and elaborate brass chandelier; a convex mirror framed in wood which is decorated with symbols behind glass; elaborate bed-hangings and carvings on chair and bench; a small Oriental carpet.
Though Arnolfini was a cloth merchant, the oranges in the side may have indicated that he also dealt in these expensive fruits. One purpose of this painting is to demonstrate the prosperity and wealth of the couple but there are several conjectures as to its main celebration.

1. It might record the wedding of the couple, Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his bride, Giovanna 

    Cenami.

2. Or it could be a pictorial record of the making of a contract between an already-married couple, giving the wife the authority to act on her husband’s behalf in business dealings. This view is supported by Arnolfini’s raised right hand and his taking of his wife’s hand as a gesture of consent.

3. Giovanni’s first wife, Costanza Trenta, had died, probably in childbirth, in February 1433. The painting could therefore represent an unusual memorial portrait showing one living and one dead, person. Details such as the snuffed candle in the scenes after Christ’s death on her side of the

background roundel and the black garb of the man, support this view. The single lit candle on Giovanni’s side contrasting with the wax stub on her side, evokes a common literary metaphor: he lives; she is dead. There is also a tiny carved figure on a finial on the bedpost, probably of Saint Margaret, patron saint of pregnancy and childbirth, who was invoked to assist women in labour and to cure infertility.

Details.

 Jan Van Eyck was here 1434

The Convex Mirror

The small medallions set in the frame of the mirror show tiny scenes from the Passion of Christ and may represent God’s promise of salvation for the figures reflected in the mirror. Indeed the mirror itself may represent the eye of God observing the oath-taking ceremony. There are two figures reflected in the mirror one of whom is almost certainly the artist, a friend of Arnolfini, and these two could readily be considered as witnesses to the oath-taking. Jan Van Eyck provides additional authentication with his signature writ large upon the wall.

The Little Dog

The little dog symbolises fidelity but may also be a lap-dog. Lap-dogs were fashionable accoutrements and companions for ladies at Court but this little chap, cheerfully meeting the gaze of the viewer, also reflects the wealth of the couple and their position at court.

The Status of The Painting

The Arnolfini Portrait is considered one the most original and complex paintings in Western art because of its beauty, its complex iconography, its geometric perspective and the skill demonstrated in the expansion of the painted space with the use of one convex mirror. Van Eyck’s use of direct and diffuse light also help to evoke space in this domestic interior. Whatever meanings are attributed to the scene and its details, the painting “is the only fifteenth century Northern panel to survive in which the artist’s contemporaries are shown in some sort of action in a contemporary interior. It is indeed tempting to call this the first genre painting – a painting of everyday life – of modern times.” [Craig Harbison]

The figures in the mirror are

astonishingly visible.