The Arnolfini Portrait

I have always been enchanted by this painting and I could never really pinpoint what it was that attracted me to it so much: from the figures in their lavish garments, the woman’s position, her dress, and the multitude of disguised symbols in the room to the almost tangible, texturized quality of the painting. So, I decided to talk about everything, as I felt it would only be fair towards an artist who has always given so much attention to every minute detail in his works.

Van Eyck started his career as a manuscript illuminator. The single factor that distinguishes his work from the art of manuscript illumination was the medium that he used.

For many years, Jan van Eyck was wrongly credited with the invention of painting in oils. Although this is incorrect – oil painting had been used to colour sculptures and glaze over tempera paintings for at least 200 years – there is no doubt that he perfected the technique.

The breakthrough came when Van Eyck mixed the oil into the actual paints, in place of the egg medium that made up tempera paint. The result was a brilliance, translucence and intensity of colour, perfectly suited for the representation of shining objects and, more significantly, to the convincing depiction of natural light.

Not only did he make his mark through the use of this brilliance and light but also, unusually for his time, Van Eyck often signed and dated his paintings. In the Arnolfini Portrait, he inscribes the back wall above the convex mirror in large letters Johannes de Eyck fuit hic 1434 (”Jan van Eyck was here 1434”).

Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini Portrait, oil on oak panel of 3 vertical boards, 1434

---

This painting is believed to be a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and either his first wife or an undocumented second wife. Arnolfini was an Italian cloth merchant from Lucca, who lived and worked in Bruges from around 1419.

The couple is shown in an upstairs room in summer, as indicated by the cherry tree outside the window, which is in fruit. The room is not a bedroom, but a reception room, as it was the fashion in Burgundy to have beds in reception rooms for use as seating.

The two figures are richly dressed, both wearing outer garments trimmed or fully lined with fur. The man wears a black hat of plaited straw, while the woman’s dress has elaborate dagging on the sleeves and a long train.

The placement of the two figures reflects conventional views of marriage and gender roles. The woman stands near the bed and well into the room, symbolic of her role as the keeper of the house, while Giovanni stands near the open window, symbolic of his role in the outside world.

The man looks up towards the viewer, while his wife gazes downward obediently. His hand is raised vertically, representing his commanding position of authority, while her hand is in a lower, horizontal, more submissive pose.

The painting may represent a business contract between a married couple, giving the woman the authority to act on her husband’s behalf. The evidence for this is Arnolfini’s raised right hand (a gesture of oath-taking) and his left hand joining his wife’s hand (a gesture of consent).

Alternatively, the painting could have been a gift to the Arnolfini family in Italy, with the purpose of showing the prosperity and wealth of the depicted couple. This might explain such oddities in the painting as why the two are standing in typical winter clothing while a cherry tree is in bloom outside.

Although the woman seems to be pregnant, this is probably not the case. She is simply holding her dress. Costanza Trenta, whom Arnolfini married in 1426 and who died before February 1433, was childless. There are numerous paintings of virgin saints similarly dressed, including Van Eyck’s own Dresden Triptych (1437). This look was fashionable for women’s dresses at the time, emphasising either wealth or the child-bearing potential of women. Alternatively, the woman’s gesture may be an indication of the couple’s desire for fertility and progeny.

Further evidence for this is the carved figure of St Margaret of Antioch, patron saint of pregnancy and childbirth, as a decorative top on the bedpost. St Margaret was invoked to assist women in labour and to cure infertility.

The small dog in the foreground is an emblem of loyalty and love, possibly signifying the couple’s desire to have a child. However, the dog – an early form of the breed now known as the Brussels Griffon – could also simply be a lap dog, a gift from husband to wife, demonstrating the wealth of the couple.

The clogs are possibly a gesture of respect for the wedding ceremony and indicate that this event is taking place on holy ground, although these were only normally worn outside. Husbands traditionally presented brides with clogs, which were a symbol of domestic stability and tranquillity.

The oranges on the windowsill and the low table are a reminder of the original purity and innocence in the Garden of Eden before the Fall of Man. Alternatively, the fruit could simply be a sign of the couple’s wealth, as they were uncommon and very expensive in the Netherlands. In Italy, oranges were a symbol of fertility in marriage.

Above the couple’s heads, the wick left burning in broad daylight in the ornate copper chandelier is possibly the candle used in traditional Flemish marriage customs. Lit in full daylight, like the sanctuary lamp in a church, it may allude to the presence of the Holy Spirit or the ever-present eye of God.

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, while she is dead.

The brush hanging from the bedpost is a symbol of domestic care. The brush and rosary (a popular wedding gift) appearing together on either side of the mirror may also allude to the Christian phrase ora et labora (”pray and work”).

The convex mirror hanging at the back of the room has a wooden frame with scenes from the Passion of Christ painted beneath glass. All the scenes on the wife’s side are of Christ’s death and resurrection, while those on the husband’s side depict episodes from the life of Christ.

The mirror itself may represent the Eye of God observing the marriage vows. A spotless mirror was also an established symbol of Mary, referring to the purity and immaculate conception of the Holy Virgin.

The mirror both compresses and expands the scene. It reflects two figures in the doorway, one of whom could be the artist himself. He is presumed to be the person in red, based on the appearances of the figures in red headdresses in such other works as Man in Red Turban and the Rolin Madonna.

The two figures in the doorway may be there to prove that the two witnesses required to make a wedding legal were present. So van Eyck’s signature on the wall may have been his way of documenting an actual event at which he himself was present.

The representation of the room as a three-dimensional space, together with the almost tangible textures of the couple’s rich clothes, shows that an exact depiction of reality was now possible. Similarly, the character in the faces of the stern Italian merchant and his yielding wife signify that portraiture had come of age in the 1430s.

Jan van Eyck continued working as a painter to the court and city of Bruges until his death in 1441. He was buried at the Court of St Donatian, which was destroyed in 1799 in the aftermath of the French Revolution.