Arnolfini Portrait Essay

It is widely believed that The Arnolfini Portrait, painted by Jan van Eyck in is one of the most skilfully painted pieces of work of the 15th century, not simply for the many layers of oil paint thinly applied to create a beautifully detailed rendering of the occasion, but also because of the many instances of “disguised symbolism” , so that it creates an intensely complex scope for art historians to analyse and identify the exact meaning of the painting, and the identity of the couple. “Van Eyck was one of the earliest Flemish painters” (The Biography.com 2014), and this is one of his most noted paintings because it is unlike anything of its period, as a similar full length panel painting of a marriage contract does not appear around the same

It was initially believed that the identity of the couple was Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami , and this theory was not challenged until 1997, when it was discovered that, as previously stated, that couple were not married till much later, and indeed six years after the death of van Eyck. Panofsky stated there be “no reason whatever to doubt the identity of the London portrait” (Panofsky, E 1937), owing this to the extensive research about how the painting was acquired, how it was described in a 1604 biography of van Eyck and the inscription on the panel “Johannes de Eyck fuit hic”. For example, Elisabeth Dhanens put forward another theory that this was in fact the brother of Giovanni, Michele instead and his wife . However, the initial argument of the identity of the couple seems more likely, given that Giovanni was the most prominent member of the family, and therefore most likely to be portrayed in the painting. If the background of the individuals is already known by the viewer of the painting, then the clothes can be used as a visual