THE ARNOLFINI PORTRAIT

Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini (c. 1400 – after 1452) was a merchant from Lucca, a city in Tuscany, Italy, who spent most of his life in Flanders, then part of the Duchy of Burgundy, probably always based in Bruges, a wealthy trading city and one of the main towns of the Burgundian court.
The Arnolfini were a powerful family in Lucca, involved in the politics and trade of the small but wealthy city, which specialised (like Florence) in weaving expensive cloth.

The Arnolfini Portrait (or The Arnolfini Wedding, The Arnolfini Marriage, the Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, or other titles) is a 1434 oil painting on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. It forms a full-length double portrait, believed to depict the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, presumably in their home in the Flemish city of Bruges.

The Arnolfini Portrait (or The Arnolfini Wedding, The Arnolfini Marriage, the Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, or other titles) is a 1434 oil painting on oak panel by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. It forms a full-length double portrait, believed to depict the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, presumably in their home in the Flemish city of Bruges

This work is a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife but is not intended as a record of their wedding. His wife is not pregnant, as is often thought, but holding up her full-skirted dress in contemporary fashion. Arnolfini was a member of a merchant family from Lucca living in Bruges. The couple is shown in a well-appointed interior.

The ornate Latin signature translates as ‘Jan van Eyck was here 1434’. The similarity to modern graffiti is not accidental. Van Eyck often inscribed his pictures in a witty way. The mirror reflects two figures in the doorway. One may be the painter himself. Arnolfini raises his right hand as he faces them, perhaps as a greeting.

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.

It is thought that the couple is already married because of the woman’s headdress. A non-married woman would have her hair down, according to Margaret Carroll.[25] The placement of the two figures suggests conventional 15th century views of marriage and gender roles – the woman stands near the bed and well into the room, symbolic of her role as the caretaker of the house and solidifying her in a domestic role, whereas Giovanni stands near the open window, symbolic of his role in the outside world. Arnolfini looks directly out at the viewer; his wife gazes obediently at her husband. His hand is vertically raised, representing his commanding position of authority, whilst she has her hand in a lower, horizontal, more submissive pose. However, her gaze at her husband can also show her equality to him because she is not looking down at the floor as lower class women would. They are part of the Burgundian court life and in that system, she is his equal, not his subordinate.

The symbolism behind the action of the couple’s joined hands has also been debated among scholars. Many point to this gesture as proof of the painting’s purpose. Is it a marriage contract or something else? Panofsky interprets the gesture as an act of fides, Latin for “marital oath”. He calls the representation of the couple “qui desponsari videbantur per fidem” which means, “who were contracting their marriage by marital oath”.The man is grasping the woman’s right hand with his left, which is the basis for the controversy. Some scholars like Jan Baptist Bedaux and Peter Schabacker argue that if this painting does show a marriage ceremony, then the use of the left hand points to the marriage being morganatic and not clandestine. A marriage is said to However, the subjects originally thought by most scholars to be represented in this painting, Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami, were of equal status and rank in the courtly system, so the theory would not hold true. On the opposite side of the debate are scholars like Margaret Carroll. She suggests that the painting deploys the imagery of a contract between an already married couple giving the wife the authority to act on her husband’s behalf in business dealings. Carroll identifies Arnolfini’s raised right hand as a gesture of oath-taking known as “fidem levare“, and his joining hands with his wife as a gesture of consent known as “fides manualis“

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 husband’s side concern Christ’s life. 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.