Discuss how Jan Van Eyck’s double portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami (Figures 16.7 and 16.8) epitomizes the Netherlandish style of painting.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

This painting epitomizes the Netherlandish style of painting with, its careful attention to detail and its symbolism. The man on the left is Giovanni Arnolfini, a wealthy merchant from the Italian city of Lucca whose family had numerous trading interests in Flanders, including serving as outfitters to the Duke of Burgundy. The woman on the right is Giovanni’s wife, whose gesture of gathering her skirts around her midsection suggests that she is either longing for a child or that she died in childbirth. Behind the couple, St. Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth, is carved into the bedpost, while the mirror in the background, depicted in exquisite detail, recounts events from the passion of Christ around its border. Above the mirror is an inscription in Latin: “Jan van Eyck was here.” Some interpret the inscription to mean that the artist was a witness to this event, which was believed to have been a wedding.