Renaissance

 

Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434

    

    The artwork I chose from the northern renaissance is The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck. This particular piece of work has dark contrasting shades giving it the medieval feel. The girl has bright colors surrounding her, from her clothes to the bright red bedding behind her. These bright colors gives the girl an innocent feel or femininity and the man with the dark clothes and background has a more darker feel and represents his masculinity. The emotion that this painting evokes is more of a spiritualistic sense. The subjects in this painting seem to be conducting a prayer or ritual of some sort.

    The background of this painting is that many people say the girl is pregnant. However, according to Dr. Lane Eagles from Smarthistory, the girl is not pregnant. She states that "in the Renaissance this gesture (hand on abdomen) would have been understood instead as a sign of adherence to female decorum"(The Question of Pregnancy in Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait). She also states that there is excess fabric around the girls abdomen that can be mistaken for a pregnant belly (The Question of Pregnancy in Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait). Dr. Eagles also states that the woman in the painting is the merchant, Giovanni di Nicolao di Arnolfini wife (The Question of Pregnancy in Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait). So perhaps this was his way of praying for a baby by having Jan Van Eyck paint his wife to seemingly look like she is pregnant. As the phrase goes, "speaking it into the universe".   

    This painting was influenced by royalty because the Arnolfini family were very wealthy from their trade business of luxury fabrics (The Arnolfini Portrait). It also represents humanism because it portrays the higher status of these two individuals with the expensive looking objects throughout the background and the clothes that the two figures wear.   

1. "The Question Of Pregnancy In Jan Van Eyck’S Arnolfini Portrait – Smarthistory". Smarthistory.Org, 2022, https://smarthistory.org/arnolfini-pregnancy/.

2. "The Arnolfini Portrait: Theories, Interpretations, And Analysis". Thecollector, 2022, https://www.thecollector.com/arnolfini-portrait-theories-analysis/.