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Arnolfini Marriage by Jan Van Eyck

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“Arnolfini Marriage” is a very famous painting by Jan Van Eyck painted in the early 15th century, which is in the National Gallery in London. According to the Catalogue of the National Gallery, the painting is just a portrait of the couple Arnolfini that is showing their marriage. Waldemar Januszczak, an author and presenter, believes that this portrait was wrongly named and it should have been called “the Arnolfini Pregnancy”. Januszczak believes that Mrs. Arnolfini is pregnant and she is dead at the time this artwork was painted. Januszczak has these proofs for Mrs. Arnolfini to be pregnant; the way that her dress was cut with the bulge on her belly and the protective gesture with comparison to the “Annuciation”, a painting by Van Cleve. …show more content…

Arnolfini. The chandelier above has a contradiction that makes Margaret Koster think that the candles symbolize death and life. The candle on the left side where Mr. Arnolfini is still on but the other candle is gone out. Mrs. Arnolfini stays where the gone out candle is.
According to Januszczak there are two more symbols supporting the fact that Mrs. Arnolfini is death. These are the shoes called pattens and the fruits on the windowsill. At that time, people used shoes called pattens for wearing outdoors. There is a pair of pattens on the floor. Which according to Januszczak symbolizes the loyalty of Mr. Arnolfini to his wife. Mr. Arnolfini rejected these shoes because they are towards outside and that means, “he has no plans to wander further.” Lastly the fruits on the windowsill symbolize the biblical event of paradise and they are not there to show that the Arnolfini’s were wealthy. According to Januszczak, these fruits represent “what we have lost, what we could have had”. When Adam took a bite from the forbidden fruit, he committed the first sin of mankind and mankind lost innocence and eternal life.
Januszczak, an art presenter and author, “the Arnolfini Marriage” by Van Eyck was wrongly named and should have been called “the Arnolfini Pregnancy”. He believes that Mrs. Arnolfini was pregnant and she died in childbirth. Januszczak’s proofs for this claim are given in two main parts. First, the proofs of

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