Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini "Wedding" Portrait

"...[M]eaning is neither found nor given, but that it takes

shape arbitrarily, and that it is dependent upon associations
and circumstances that scholars, artists, and viewers all bring
to their engagement with paintings. It is not constructed by
any one of them alone, although each of us is responsible for
the orchestration of our own responses..." (Linda Seidel, Jan
Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait: Stories of an Icon, Cambridge
University Press, 1993, p. 14).

Seidel reminds us in the quotation above that we should not understand our
role as a passive one in which we simply reflect the "found" or "given" meaning
of a work of art. Instead we need to take an active stance in relationship to the
work and make or construct our own understanding of the meaning of a work
of art. Seidel describes the role of the art historian as a narrator or story teller.
This is the stance we took when we examined the Hopper painting Office at
Night, and this will be the stance I want us take in considering one of the
major examples of Northern Renaissance art, Jan van Eyck's so-called Arnolfini
Wedding Portrait. When we discussed the Hopper we needed to pay attention
to the differences in social / cultural codes between our own and that of the
period in which Hopper painted.

In preparation for our class discussion, I want you to begin to create your own
story about the painting. Consider the following gallery of details and try to
explain how they fit into your story.
 
 

 
The following excerpt is from Gardner's Art Through the Ages (pp. 576-578). It
gives you a standard textbook study of the painting:

The intersection of the secular and religious in Flemish

painting also surfaces in Jan van Eyck's double portrait
Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride. Van Eyck depicts the Lucca
financier (who had established himself in Bruges as an agent
of the Medici family) and his betrothed in a Flemish
bedchamber that is simultaneously mundane and charged with
the spiritual. As in the Mérode Altarpiece , almost every object
portrayed conveys the event's sanctity, specifically, the
holiness of matrimony. Arnolfini and his bride, Giovanna
Cenami, hand in hand, take the marriage vows. The cast-aside
clogs indicate this event is taking place on holy ground. The
little dog symbolizes fidelity (the common canine name Fido
originated from the Latin fido, "to trust"). Behind the pair, the
curtains of the marriage bed have been opened. The bedpost's
finial (crowning ornament) is a tiny statue of Saint Margaret,
patron saint of childbirth. From the finial hands a whisk
broom, symbolic of domestic care. The oranges on the chest
below the window may refer to fertility, and the all-seeing eye
of God seems to be referred to twice. It is symbolized once by
the single candle burning in the left rear holder of the ornate
chandelier and again by the mirror, where viewers see the
entire room reflected. The small medallions set into the
mirror's frame show tiny scenes from the Passion of Christ and
represent God's ever-present promise of salvation for the
figures reflected on the mirror's convex surface.

Van Eyck enhanced the documentary nature of this painting by

exquisitely painting each object. He carefully distinguished
textures and depicted the light from the window on the left
reflecting off various surfaces. The artist augmented the
scene's credibility by including the convex mirror, because
viewers can see not only the principals, Arnolfini and his wife,
but also two persons who look into the room through the door.
 One of these must be the artist himself, as the florid
inscription above the mirror, "Johannes de Eyck fuit hic,"
announces he was present. The picture's purpose, then, seems
to have been to record and sanctify this marriage. Although
this has been the traditional interpretation of this image, some
scholars recently have taken issue with this reading,
suggesting that Arnolfini is conferring legal privileges on his
wife to conduct business in his absence. Despite the lingering
questions about the precise purpose of Giovanni Arnolfini and
his Bride, the painting provides viewers today with great
insight into both van Eyck's remarkable skill and Flemish life in
the fifteenth century.

Characters:

An early sixteenth century inventory record apparently referring to the London

painting identifies the man in the painting as: "Arnoult-fin." This appears to be
a French version of the Italian name Arnolfini. There were several members of
this family from Lucca in northern Europe during this period. In cities like Paris
and Bruges there were colonies of Italian merchant families during this period.
These families were actively engaged in the cloth industry and other luxury
materials catering to the needs of the nobility of northern Europe. Many of
these families also became involved with banking. The account records of
northern European princes have frequent entries recording loans given by
these Italian merchants to help support the need for liquid capital to support
the princely households. The Arnolfini referred to in the inventory is most likely
Giovanni di Arrigo Arnolfini who was born in Lucca about 1400. He appears to
have settled in Bruges by 1421. An entry in the Bruges Archives for July 1 of
that year records that Giovanni made a large sale of silks and hats. By at least
1423, Giovanni was engaged in transactions with the duke. There was a large
payment that year from the duke for a series of six tapestries with scenes of
Notre Dame. These were intended as a present to the Pope. There is a record
from 1446 listing a loan by Giovanni to Philip the Good. Perhaps in exchange
for the loan, Philip gave Giovanni the right to collect trariffs on goods imported
from England that entered through Gravelines for a period of six years. This
lucrative privilege was renewed for another six years. In 1461, Giovanni
became a councillor and chamberlain to the duke, and he was knighted in
1462. Louis XI of France appointed Arnolfini a councillor and Governor of
Finance of Normandy. Giovanni died in 1472 and was buried in the chapel of
the Lucchese merchants at the Augustinian church in Bruges, where he and his
wife had endowed daily and anniversary masses in their name.

Giovanni married Giovanna Cenami the daughter of one of the most prominent
Lucchese families established in northern Europe. Giovanna's grandmother was
the niece of Dino Rapondi who along with his three brothers were close
financial advisors and bankers for the Dukes Philip the Bold, John the Fearless,
and Philip the Good of Burgundy at the end of the fourteenth century and the
beginning of the fifteenth century. In 1432 when the last of the four Rapondi
brothers died, Philip the Good had a special mass sung for them. Marriage
alliances like that between the Cenami and Rapondi families were not private
but public matters with the futures of the families' businesses inextricably
linked. For Giovanni Arnolfini marrying into such a prominent family as the
Cenamis was undoubtedly a significant boost to his financial fortunes.
Unfortunately, we do not know which year they were married. So while not
certain, the identification of the couple as Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna
Cenami seems likely.

We know that the couple died childless. We should be cautious not to assume
that they never had any children since they perhaps had children that
predeceased them. At the same time there is no evidence that they did have
children. We do have records of Giovanni having an extra-marital affair. In
1470, thus late in Giovanni's life, a woman took him to court to have returned
to her jewelry he had given her. She also sought a pension and several houses
that she had been promised.

A Wedding Portrait?

While most scholars agree that the painting depicts Giovanni Arnolfini and
Giovanna Cenami, Erwin Panofsky's assumption that the painting is a wedding
portrait has been called into question. Compare the Arnolfini painting to the
following works:

Right panel of Rogier van der Weyden's Master of the Tiburtine Sibyl, Scenes from
Altarpiece of the Seven Sacraments, the Life of the Virgin. Marriage of the Virgin
painted for Jean Chevrot. is in the foreground.

Whether this is a wedding portrait or not it is important to see the painting in

the context of the social and institutional attitudes towards marriage. Consult
the excerpts from Dale Kent's essay "Women in Renaissance Florence." While
not dealing with the Netherlands, the article is still relevant. Remember that
the Arnolfinis and Cenamis come from Lucca which is very close to Florence.

 
Is she or isn't she?

I have never taught the Arnolfini Portrait without a student asking the question
whether she is pregnant. Compare the dress worn by Giovanna Cenami to that
worn by St. Catherine on the right wing of the Dresden triptych:

Dresden Triptych.

A Lost Work by Van Eyck?

To add an additional dimension to our discussion, consider the image below. It

is a detail from Willem van Haecht's Archduke Albert Visits the Kunstkammer
of Cornelius van der Geest. The detail shows an Eyckian painting of a woman
at her toilet.

Detail of William van Haecht,

Archduke Albert Visits the
Kunstkammer of Cornelius van der
Geest.
Although the Eyckian work depicted in the Haecht painting has been
subsequently lost, what is probably a copy of it is in the collection of the Fogg
Art Museum:

The detail from the Haecht painting and the Fogg panel have been associated
with the Italian humanist Fazio's description of a Van Eyck painting depicting a
woman's bath. Fazio describes how van Eyck had represented the most
intimate parts of a nude woman through the veil of fine linen and that the
woman's back was reflected in a mirror.

The similarities of this lost work to the Arnolfini painting are unmistakeable. It
seems likely that the lost work was a pendant to the London panel. How would
you explain these two works as a pair?

It is interesting to compare the detail of the lost Van Eyck painting to the
Annunciation in the Louvre by Rogier van der Weyden, a painting that clearly
echoes the Arnolfini Double Portrait.

Echoes of the Arnolfini Portrait:

 Petrus Christus, The Holy
Family in a Domestic
Interior, c. 1460.

Rogier van der Weyden, Annunciation,

Charles the Bold surprising David Aubert. Histoire de

Charles Martel, Brussels, Bibliothèque royale, ms. 8,
fol. 7

Fall of Man from the Très riches heures, c. 1416

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