Analysis Of The Wedding Portrait By Jan Van Eyck

There are different scenes of this portrait that van Eyck’s uses throughout to identify social standards of the time this piece was done. The fruit is there to identify the intimacy of marriage. The dog and gargoyles also represent various implications of religiosities. Going in enormous detail of what everything means. The gargoyles are there to display deceptiveness in the marriage of the couple’s nature as well as being somewhat

In Artwork 1, Mary is placed in the centre of the image between Christ who is on the left and God who is on the right. The Holy Spirit is between the two which forms the Holy Trinity. The composition can be viewed as forming an inverted triangle or heart shape. Mary is the focal figure with an attitude of modesty, reverence and tranquil emotion with her right hand placed upon her heart in which reinforces this. God is expressed as a picture of wisdom as He is crowning the head of Mary with a garland of roses, along side Jesus. The Holy Spirit is present in the image above Mary and is portrayed in the traditional form of a white dove. Cherubs, angelic beings, are visible at the base of the painting which can be interpreted as guards. The use of blue in their garments symbolising heavenly grace in

In Jan van Eyck’s painting wedding portrait there are a lot of symbols that show something sacred is going on. Such as wearing no shoes, it shows they are on holy ground. Along with they are in their bedroom chambers instead of in a church which means they are there to consummate their marriage and are hopeful for many children which is what the woman is already showing hopefulness by resting her hand on her stomach. Another few things that I found interesting is the single candle lit in the chandelier even though its clearly daylight, it’s supposed to symbolize divine presence and the oranges in the windowsill and on the chest, it’s said they are the golden apples of Hesperides which is said to being a representation the conquest of death.

Although they appear vastly different, Jan van Eyck’s Wedding Portrait, and the painting of the Aztec Marriage Couple have several similarities. The obvious similarity the paintings share is subject matter. They both depict a couple participating in a wedding ceremony. Another similarity between both works is the depiction of witnesses to the marriage.

When getting into bed, most people take off their shoes, as seen on the floor in front of Arnolfini (figure 7). Those shoes are not shoes of a working class woman but shoes of wealth. There is a dog on the floor towards the bottom of the painting (figure 8). This isn't a normal dog but a fancy lap dog that only the rich would have owned. The dog also represents fidelity or in other words Arnolfini's faithfulness of his marriage. Giovanni Arnolfini is the male on the left and Giovanna Cenami is the female on the right. The couple's lifestyle is symbolized by their material goods and posture.

Many think that his wife is pregnant, but she is not. She is just holding up her full-skirted dress in a contemporary fashion. Arnolfini came from family of merchants from Lucca living in Bruges. The couple are shown in a nice environment that looks pretty expensive and seem to be wearing nice clothes, which makes them appear to be wealthy. The work is known to be one of the most impressive paintings during the Northern Renaissance because of how detailed it is. Some of the details noticed by many are the little hairs sticking out of the dog, the type of cloth on their clothing, and the material of the clogs in the bottom left-hand corner. There are a lot of questions surrounding the Arnolfini Portrait because Jan van Eyck wrote on the portrait himself that it was made in 1434, but if the portrait was supposed to be of him and his wife, that didn’t make sense. Many believed that this painting may have symbolized that he had moved on and had a new woman in his life to love because his wife had died in

The love of marriage is shown in the small myrtle flower lying beside Venus, the flower petals and shell above her head are both said to be in connection to marriage. What's also very important to the painting is the way the bodies are positioned and what they are doing. Venus lying down placing her hand amongst her chest, this further resembles the institution of marriage in partnership and brings forth desire. Cupid on the other hand, which I was curious about, is peeing in Venus’s direction, through an ivy plant which is mentioned to represent fertility. On the Museums website this act along with the veil, crown, and pearl earrings, represent fertility referenced by “Italian Venetians”. What I found most interesting about this painting is the tiny snake near Venus. Why is it there? Especially in a painting that resembles marriage. The museum website mentions that this snake reveals the “darker aspect” of marriage. That is, “illicit”, not approved of. I also wondered about the rod that lies near Venus, and the website does say that it is most likely used to discipline Cupid. Nevertheless, the meaning of the painting is marriage as a happy institution, the museum also mentions that the message of “epithalamia” is conveyed as necessary, and that marriage is something everyone must do, and experience, and that this is in our nature to do so. Which explains the very natural

an Van Eyck was a painter from the Netherlands. He appears to be one of the most significant Northern Renaissance artists of the 15th century. Renaissance is the celebration of individual identity. Before that era, artists painted what they were commissioned to paint. Most of them painted portraits of others or self-portrait.

The two photos I picked was Jan Van Eyck’s Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami (Pg 36) and a clip from Bill Viola’s The Greeting done in 1995 (Pg 289). Eyck’s work is a oil painting on a oak panel from the year 1434, and I chose just to use Giovanni Arnolfini and leave his wife out of my collage. I picked a image from Viola’s The Greeting because I wanted to use another form of media for my second half of the collage, and I wanted a woman. Viola’s work is a clip from his video, which is a reenactment of Jacopo da Pontormo’s oil painting The Visitation (Pg 289). Pontormo’s painting was of the meeting two women one Mary who was newly pregnant with Jesus, the other woman is six months pregnant with John the Baptist, along with two

The painting Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride was painted by Jan van Eyck. Shown in this painting is a man and woman who are to be married. What makes this piece of art special, beyond the talent of Jan van Eyck, is the amount of symbolism depicted. Every object is painted with care, and is intended to show the holiness of matrimony. This includes the pair of clogs which symbolized a sacred event, a dog that was a symbol of fidelity, a burning candle and a mirror that symbolize the all-seeing eye of God, and a small statue of Saint Margaret the patron saint of childbirth. Many if the objects in the painting were from traditional Flemish customs, and it shows some Flemish marriage practices, such as one lit candle in the chandelier. Even the placement of the couple is symbolic. The man is placed near an open window, which represents the world, and the woman is next to the bed, which may indicate the woman’s place is at home bearing children.

The couple's outfits are thick and even have fur, although the painting suggests that it is spring or summer, due to the amount of sunlight entering from the window and the fresh oranges (most oranges are harvest during the spring). The furniture and the drapery is impressive, and the oranges themselves are rare and are therefore a symbol of wealth. The painting also illustrates the relationship between the two subjects through various objects. The painting suggests that the subjects are married. There is a dog in between the couple, which represents loyalty. Both characters have rings on their ring fingers, which suggests that they are both married. Also, the painting shows that both characters have removed their shoes, which implies that they are standing on holy ground, such as Moses was when speaking to god through a burning bush in the bible. The reason they are on holy ground is because a holy ceremony has taken place, that is, a wedding. Notice the characters' body language is composed of the dominant husband and the submissive wife. There is also various references to the newlywed couple's intentions of starting a family. Not only does the wife's attire exaggerate her belly, making her seem as if she were pregnant, but behind here there is a statue of Saint Margaret, the saint of childbirth and fertility. When the individual objects of this painting are viewed as a whole, the message becomes clear. Jan van

The two main characters in the painting display elegant mannered poses and all the figures appear arranged in rather unnatural poses. There is a small scene at the foot of the Saint Catherine and Christ figures. This is thought to be the Christ child with the Virgin Mary and grandmother, Saint Anne. Below these two scenes are three smaller bordered scenes. The central one depicts two enemies reconciled by an archangel and the outer ones show Saints Michael and Margaret fighting demons. All these images show the triumph of good over evil, with the middle characters shedding their weapons and embracing. All these small pictures support that the painting was commissioned by Arigoi di Nero Arighetti to celebrate the end of a feud.

Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.

The portrait is displayed horizontally with a gold trimmed frame. The subject is a female that looks to be in her early 20’s sitting upright on a large brown chair. If the viewer travels up the painting the first indication of the woman’s class is her satin, blue dress. The saturated blue shines and falls in the light like water. Paired with the dress are her exceptionally detailed endings to her sleeves. The lace is even painted as though it is translucent, allowing a little of the blue dress to show through the sleeve. Flowers throughout history have symbolized innocence of a woman and her virginity. The repeating theme of flowers, in the sleeve cuffs and ribbon) in the woman’s attired suggests her purity or innocent nature. Another very details section of the painting includes the corset/torso details. The sewing suggests texture in the torso with small beading in between. Towards the top of the chest in the center, the female seems to bear an extravagant, ribbon piece with a tear drop bead in the center. The light pink

Kate Chopin’s short story “Two Portraits”, tells about a woman named Alberta. The first story is about Alberta the Wanton, who is a captivating prostitute that is going on a downward spiral towards aging and alcoholism. In the second story, Alberta is a nun who is the most saintly of all the women in the convent. Chopin incorporates many features like dimensionalism and environment to draw a contrast between the two Albertas. As it is the author's intention to examine contrary states of innocence and experience to show the ways that society divides women rather than uniting them.