painting-Arnolfini Portrait

Arnolfini Portrait

The Arnolfini Portrait is an oil painting on oak panel executed in 1434 by Jan van Eyck, a master of Early Netherlandish painting.

Interpretation and symbolism

• The little dog symbolizes loyalty, or can be seen as an emblem of lust, signifying the couple's desire to have a child.
• Behind the pair, the curtains of the marriage bed have been opened; the red curtains might allude to the physical act of love between the married couple

Van Eyck created a painting with an almost reflective surface by applying layer after layer of translucent thin glazes. The intense glowing colours also help to highlight the realism.




The green of the woman's dress symbolises hope, possibly the hope of becoming a mother. Her white cap signifies purity.

The small medallions set into the frame of the convex mirror at the back of the room show tiny scenes from the Passion of Christ and may represent God's promise of salvation for the figures reflected on the mirror's convex surface. Furthering the Memorial theory, all the scenes on the wife's side are of Christ's death and resurrection. Those on the husbands side concern Christ's life. See mirror detail under Reproductions below.

• 
  The single candle in the left rear holder of the ornate seven-branched chandelier is possibly the candle used in traditional Flemish marriage customs. Lit in full daylight, like the sanctuary lamp in a church, the candle may allude to the presence of the Holy Ghost or the ever-present eye of God.
  
• Alternatively, in Margaret Koster's theory that the painting is a memorial portrait, the single lit candle on Giovanni's side contrasts with the burnt-out candle whose wax stub can just be seen on his wife's side. In a metaphor commonly used in literature, he lives on, she is dead.
  
  The mirror itself may represent the eye of God observing the vows of the wedding. A spotless mirror was also an established symbol of Mary, referring to the Holy Virgin's immaculate conception and purity.
  

The mirror reflects two figures in the doorway, one of whom may be the painter himself. In Panofsky's controversial view, the figures are shown to prove that the two witnesses required to make a wedding legal were present, and Van Eyck's signature on the wall acts as some form of actual documentation of an event at which he was himself present.

The painting is also signed, inscribed and dated on the wall above the mirror: "Johannes de eyck fuit hic. 1434" ("Jan van Eyck was here. 1434"). The inscription looks as if it were painted in large letters on the wall, as was done with proverbs and other phrases at this period. Other surviving van Eyck signatures are painted in trompe l'oeil on the wooden frame of his paintings, so that they appear to have been carved in the wood.

What i like about this painting:

When i saw this painting first time, i was learning oil painting at that time. This works in the light and shadow, volume, space, texture shape, in color saturation, brightness, describe accuracy, the true extent and depth extent, going beyond the contemporary Italian .This concept beyond the artistic differences, there are differences in technique, but the most important thing is the sense of drawing materials science epoch-making breakthrough. These paintings by Iconology the explanation, so that we understand the meaning of this painting, its meaning in Western eyes is just like the general importance of today's marriage certificate.what i interest about this painting is that not only the skill but also the meaning behind this painting, so many symbolism hided in this painting. It is worth mentioning that the death of Van Eyck 1441, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and other great masters of Italian Renaissance art has neither birth. Therefore, we can imagine, this painter in art history, how important it is to lay status.