Analysis of Symbolism in Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck from 1434

Renaissance was a great era of innovation and ideas that followed the Medieval period or the Dark Ages of ignorance and uncivilization. Renaissance can be defined as “Rebirth” in French because it was the rebirth and rediscovery of great ancient art styles, Greek and Roman, which can be seen in many art pieces from this period, for instance, David sculpture by Michelangelo and Venus of Urbino by Titian. Moreover, Renaissance was the efflorescence of Arts (CrashCourse, 2012). This new era started around the 15th century. It primarily took place in Italy, but its greatness reached far beyond Italy and spread around Europe. Although the Art styles and perspectives of the Renaissance were different from the previous era, they were also got inspired by terms of religious ideas. The main focus of Renaissance Art was religion which included a variety story from the Christain Bible such as stories about the life of Christ and the Holy Family. Humanism was also a significant intellectual movement back in the time which was embraced by philosophy and mainly focused more on human beings. Unsurprisingly, many Renaissance artists became the world's most recognizable and well-loved masters that modern artists look up to. Numerous symbolism and deep mystery were included in many masterpieces, and one of those is Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck from 1434.

Jan van Eyck was an artist from the Netherlands who invented and developed the new technique of oil painting (Kessler, 2021) as he wanted his painting to look more natural and realistic that could depict vivid details to create symbolism. He paid great attention and interest in portraits and religious subjects, which were included as symbols in many of his art (Kessler, 2021), Arnolfini Portrait is no exception.

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Many may not notice that there is more than they see as they seek their eyes through great paintings while walking down a big hall of some famous museum in the world, but that is the beauty of the iconography. Iconography is the containment of deeper meanings in a form of simple presentation (Fosmire, n.d.), for instance, clothes colors, body gestures, and many other components in the painting that are intentionally and well-decided put together in the painting to create iconography. However, as artists, we have a critical eye and see details differently. The Arnolfini Portrait is also known as the Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, the Arnolfini Double Portrait, or the Arnolfini Marriage (Howell, 2020) due to an obvious indication of a newlywed couple. One reason artists believed that the couple was already married is because of the evidence shown in the painting as the wife was wearing a white headdress hiding her hair away rather than putting her hair down, as it would be the traditional thing for an unmarried woman to do in the 15th century (Advaney, 2017). Another obvious observation is the wooden shoes lying on the floor in the left corner of the painting. Traditionally, back in the Renaissance period, wooden shoes were commonly given by the groom to brides as a wedding gift (Advaney, 2017). One may see wooden shoes as a detail of Renaissance Fashion like how some may also see the lady’s dress as one too. However, there is something more than that. It immediately appeals to first-time viewers like myself who may see this as she was putting one of her hands on her tummy looking very pregnant and that she seems to be giving birth to one lovely child soon. Contrary to what we see, she is, in fact, not pregnant. The truth of the wife’s hand gesture holding her upper abdomen, if looked closely, is that she was actually holding and lifting up her green outer layer of cloth to show off her expensive blue inner dress or underskirt inside (Hoe, 2018). Another great confirmation that this couple was married is the convex mirror on the wall behind both of them which reflected two extra persons, one of which is believed to be Jan van, Eyck, himself as he included his signature in the painting as quote: “Johannes de Eyck fruit hic 1434”, meaning Jan van Eyck was here, 1434. Another person in the reflection is believed to be the witness of the wedding which serves as the legal certification of a marriage contract (Advaney, 2017). To ensure a successful marriage, van Eyck included the little dog in the painting, placing it between two love birds’ feet as a sign of loving loyalty and fertility of a couple (“The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck”, n.d.). The bed sheets were not painted red for no reason. The red, back in the Renaissance period, symbolized the love and passion of the couple (Cole, 2020). The wife's downward gaze also illustrates that she belongs to the man holding her hand (Hoe, 2018), the gaze reveals her shyness and humbleness.

Portrait painting was known to be very expensive back in the time and only those who were wealthy or from the royal family would have it. Portrait painting was popular during the Renaissance period due to the fact that mirrors were so rare and their price was exorbitant. Unsurprisingly, with van Eyck’s talent and ideas, he flawlessly incorporated many symbols of wealth in this painting to show the affluence of the couple. As the reflection detail in the mirror mentioned above represents a symbol of marriage, the mirror itself has previously mentioned that only people with money had it, presenting a symbol of the wealth of the Arnolfini couple. The garment of the couple of one huge demonstrative of their wealth and social standing. Both were depicted in the fur coat and dress which in the Renaissance period fur was a luxurious piece only permitted by law for people in the high class to be possessed (Hoe, 2018). That is not the end of wealth symbolism involved in clothing. The color choice of clothing had a pretty impact on dictating whether you are poor or live on silver spoons. Ultramarine was the costliest color since Ancient Egypt time and the finest color picked by many artists in Renaissance to paint for robes of the Virgin Mary as it signified holiness and humility (“Ultramarine”, n.d.). It was still the most expensive color in Renaissance and most upper classes used to dye their clothes along with other colors like red and green, including the Arnolfini family. As an intention to show the wealth of the Arnolfini couple, the wife was wearing a blue inner dress and covered herself with a big long fluffy emerald green velvet coat with large sleeves, decorated with white fur. She intentionally lifted her gown up to show off her expensive blue dress beneath. The husband was also wearing luxurious velvet in deeper tones of blueish-black and trimmed in fur. Both of the couples were wearing highly luxurious jewelry; including a gold necklace, ring, and bracelet on the wife and a silver ring and bracelet on the husband, together with the painting technique of van Eyck helped to bring out the realisticness and luminosity, and texture of jewelry and clothing (Howell, 2020). Yet the dog is again involved in the symbolism of wealth and standing in the high social class, along with the oranges on the windowsill. Oranges did not grow naturally in Europe back at the time. It is a tropical fruit that could only be afforded by wealthy individuals (Howell, 2020). Back in the 15th century, many fruits including oranges were hand carried from India (Fosmire, n.d.), with the great distance causing it to have a high price. Though, oranges were not only depicted as a symbol of luxury but also signified fertility and love. Another great symbolism in this is that we can clearly see that man and wife are almost like separated from each other with the chandelier hanging in the center above them, the rug edge and bed pole are perfectly visually separating them for a second. The wife is standing next to the bed just like how she should be as the duty of women was to stay home and take care of the home so the bed is her symbolism. At the same time, a man is standing next to the window exposed to the sunlight, indicating that his duty is to go out and take care of business (Hoe, 2018).

Though Iconography can be interpreted in many ways. People with different perspectives see Arnolfini's Portrait as signified in different ways. The mystery behind this portrait is who exactly were the couple in the painting. There is some speculation that the husband is Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and the wife is Costanza Trenta (Advaney, 2017). However, Costanza passed away in 1433 while giving birth (Takac, 2019) which was one year before the Arnolfini Portrait was signed by Jan van Eyck in 1434 as shown as evidence in the painting above the convex mirror. There is so much evidence that supported this idea. First of all as previously stated that this painting seemingly is divided into two parts, left and right. The left part where the husband was standing, with the decoration and such, gives viewers an idea of the life of Christ, while the wife is standing on the other side next to the bed, as a symbol of his death (and probably her). Along with that, the clothing colors of both can be dictated differently from the previous version as the wife is wearing colorful cloth while her man is wearing dark tone clothing, lying as a symbol of sorrow and emphasizing his sadness (Advaney, 2017). Moreover, in the middle ages, the dog was used as a symbol of death as it was carved on the tombs of women in that period (Advaney, 2017). Finally, the candle on the chandelier is only lit above the husband while there is no candle above the wife, the burning candle represents life (Howell, 2020), which can be interpreted as death for the wife as there is no candle, only wax was left in the holder, emphasized that her candle was all burnt out and her time is gone.