The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) - Jan van Eyck

Cities in northern Europe (Bruges, Ghent, and then later Antwerp and Brussels) were rich industrial, trading, and banking centers in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This allowed a large merchant-class to flourish in northern Europe.

Previously, we have seen kings and popes commissioning art. However, in Northern European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and parts of France), the merchant class who made a lot of money by doing trade commissioned art. This newly wealthy private citizens commissioned art as part of a growing interest in private meditation and prayer. Portraits were also commissioned in growing numbers. Artists depicted real individuals rather than anonymous figures or saints. Hence, the formation of a merchant class of art patrons that purchased works in oil on panel is a crucial change in northern Europe.

Though profoundly different, both the Italian and Northern Renaissances shared a similar interest in the natural world and recreating the illusion of reality in their paintings and sculptures. The great artists of this period created work that reflected their increasingly mercantile world.

The representation of wealth and power became a hugely important motive for patrons like bankers and traders in Northern Europe.

Though the medium of oil paint had been in use since the late middle ages, the artists of the Northern renaissance fully exploited this medium’s unique characteristics, including Jan van Eyck. Jan van Eyck took oil painting to new heights of realism. People mistakenly thought that van Eyck invented oil painting.

In the fifteenth century, northern artists like Jan van Eyck introduced powerful changes, such as the perfection of oil paint and almost impossible representation of minute detail, practices that clearly distinguish Northern art from Italian art.

Oil paint can imitate textures far better than fresco or tempera. That’s why it was perfectly suited to representing the material reality that was so important to Renaissance artists and their patrons. In the Northern Renaissance, we see artists making the most of oil paint. For instance, artists like Eyck created the illusion of light reflecting on metal surfaces, and textures that appear like real fur, wool, or wood. In the Northern renaissance, it’s all about detail.

Other important changes in northern Europe include the invention of the printing press and Protestant Reformation.

This full-length double portrait is believed to depict the merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, presumably in their residence at the Flemish city of Bruges.

Art historians disagree about what is actually happening in the image, whether this is a betrothal or a marriage. Some art historians believe that this is a posthumous portrait of the female figure (post mortem theory).

Erwin Panofsky interpreted this painting as a form of marriage certificate that certified these two figures were in fact married, and that the artist himself had been a witness. The mirror at the center of this painting above the figure’s clasped hands show the reflection of other figures.

The signature above the mirror says, “Johannes van Eyck was here.” And just below the signature is a date, 1434. The signature of Eyck indicates artistic selfhood.

Also, in the northern renaissance tradition, it was pretty common to include the self portrait of the artist in the painting.

Since this is a convex mirror, we have a wider view of the room. We see the back of the figures, a window, and outside the window. We also see more of the bed, the chandelier, and two additional figures that seem to be descending from stairs to enter the room. Because of the signature, art historians often assume one of them is the artist.

They are not wearing shoes. They used to take off shoes during a ceremony. The male figure’s shoes are at the front. And the female figure’s shoes (red shoes) are in the back.

Also, the scene is not in their bedroom. The bed in the background may give this impression that it is their bedroom. However, in that time, they used to put the most expensive pieces of furniture in the reception room so that guests and visitors can see. In this way, they showcased their wealth as merchants. So this is not a private space.

No, she is not pregnant. She is holding her fabric with her hand. This tells us a lot about the contemporary style and fashion of that time.

The illusion is caused because the figure collects her extensive skirts and presses the excess fabric to her abdomen where it springs outwards and creates a domelike silhouette. Her hand position is regularly read by modern viewers as a universal acknowledgment of pregnancy, but in the Renaissance this gesture would have been understood instead as a sign of adherence to female decorum.

This painting is celebrating opulence and material wealth. Arnolfini was a wealthy merchant, and the painting is clearly showcasing his family’s socioeconomic status.

We see this in the expensive and elaborate clothing, in the brass lamp that hangs from the ceiling, in the amber prayer beads that hang next to the mirror, the carpet, which may be an Asian import or even in those oranges, one of which sits on the sill and three others just below on a chest, that were true luxury items that would have expressed both opulence and taste.

Also, oranges were not local. They have it probably because of trade.

There are also the volumes of expensive red fabric that we see on the bench behind them and also on the bed.

One important feature of this painting (and Northern Renaissance) is the artist is more focused on detailing the objects and goods as opposed to human bodies like the Italian Renaissance. This is because the merchant class was more interested in showcasing their wealth. That’s why the artists created very detailed images of various objects, especially of items that signaled luxury and wealth back in that time.

Van Eyck was a master of creating the illusion of reality. And one of the ways that he was able to do that is through the use of oil paint, which allows him to create small details and make the image look realistic.

In this image, we can see tiny paintings of the Passion of Christ in the roundels that surround the mirror. At the very top, we can see the Crucifixion. He depicts Christ around the mirror in a very detailed way.

Not only do we see these images, but also the shadows cast by the mirror itself and tiny brushstrokes of yellow that indicate the reflection of the light coming from the window on the left.

So he is painting these tiny details while focusing on textures, lighting, reflection, and shadow. For instance, the prayer beads. Not only do the forms themselves depict areas of dark and brilliant light, but then they cast both reflection and shadow. So there’s this tremendously sophisticated understanding of the representation of light, even in these very complex scenarios.

Spatial awareness is present here. We know that it is early summer in the scene. Because a fruit is visible on the cherry tree outside the window.

The dog is considered as a symbol of fidelity. More importantly, this amazingly real animal seems to be reacting to the figures who are walking into the room. The hairs of the dog are visible.

As we continue to look at the dog, we notice that van Eyck even painted the grain of the wood on the floor of this room.

There is a single candle in the chandelier.