Great Painting #2 — The Arnolfini Wedding

This double portrait was painted by Dutch artist Jan van Eyck in 1434. While oil painting had been around for a long time, van Eyck was responsible for making it popular. The portrait is thought to be of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini, a cloth merchant from Lucca, Italy who was living in Bruges, Belgium, and his wife, Giovanna Cenami. (You can click on the painting a couple times to make it much larger.)

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat — Giovanna is not pregnant. Her husband supplied fine cloth to noblemen, and it’s to be expected that she would wear the full skirt fashionable at that time. I don’t know if it was also fashionable to hold up the front of it, but that’s what she’s doing in the painting.

There’s a lot of symbolism, or so I’m told.

  • Their shoes are off, indicating that they’re standing on holy ground (of matrimony).
  • The dog (which looks like it just realized it’s not in Kansas anymore) symbolizes fidelity. (The Latin word for “trust” is fido. Get it?)
  • Behind the couple, the curtains of the marriage bed are open.
  • The small figurine on the headboard is Saint Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth.
  • The broom hanging nearby symbolizes the domestic duties of the wife.
  • The oranges on the windowsill symbolize fertility.
  • The single candle burning in the chandelier is supposed to remind us of the all-seeing eye of God.
  • The small circles around the mirror show scenes from the Passion of Christ and symbolize God’s provision of salvation for those reflected in the mirror, including the happy couple.

Again, to give you an idea of how successful all this was … One of the few things we know about Giovanni is that he had an affair. And the couple died childless (although they may have had some children that died before they did).

The writing on the wall above the mirror says, in Latin, “Jan van Eyck was here,” and the artist may have painted himself as one of the tiny figures reflected in the doorway looking on.

Historically, I find it fascinating. As for whether it’s a great painting, I can’t tell you because I can’t get past that hat. What do you think?

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2 Responses to Great Painting #2 — The Arnolfini Wedding

  1. n8 says:

    That is quite a hat.

  2. kelli says:

    are you going to watch Girl with the Pearl Earring as part of your art history tour?

    I like van Eyck writing his name in the mirror. Fun stuff. (And the painting is cool)

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