Arnolfini And His Wife Essay

Referring to iconographic and historical analysis, the author of the reading suggests several possible interpretations concerning “Double Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife,” the 1434 oil painting by northern European artist Jan van Eyck. The identity of the couple and the subject matter of the portrait is still shrouded in mystery. The assumption that I made after reading chapter 19 was that Jan van Eyck might have dedicated the portrait to the couple as a testimony or commemoration of their engagement. The quite large, elaborate inscription on the wall, “Jan van Eyck was here, 1434,” features in the picture and does not simply function as his signature but perhaps narrates that he documented the couple’s betrothal or stood surety for their
marriage
The mirror also provides another significant implication. It has the circular cycle of the tiny scenes from the Passion of Christ on the frame. The mirror itself symbolizes the all-seeing eye of God according to the reading. Thus, the mirror and its frame lend religious meanings to the portrait and displays the sanctity of matrimony. The other objects that the painting encompasses showcase the couple's social status.
Their wealth seems overly represented in the picture with their household goods: the couple’s dresses garnished with fur, oriental rug, bed with a brilliant red colored canopy, stained glass window, lavish golden chandelier, and rare, ornamental breed dog. Among them, the red draperies might allude to both the physical act of their love and the woman’s prospect of pregnancy, and the dog might represent lust, in other words, the couple’s eagerness to have a child. Moreover, the Arnolfini and the woman’s joined hands in the center of the painting might be seen as a representation of their consent to a marriage. The gesture and the two objects