1. The feeling of looking at the painting for the first time
? The most profound feeling when looking at the painting for the first time may be the bride’s big belly and the groom’s big hat. The bride's protruding belly and her hands on her belly are standard gestures for many expectant mothers. It seems that the bride is pregnant! The groom's slim and narrow face has a serious expression and he wears a huge hat. From a modern perspective, when I first look at this painting, I find the newlyweds to be ridiculous. I have no idea what the artist wanted to express, nor what special achievement this painting has. This is exactly how I felt when I first saw this painting a long time ago.
2. The artistic achievements of Jan van Eyck
? The author Jan van Eyck (1390-1441) was a painter from the Netherlands (now Belgium). He was the founder of post-Gothic painting in Northern Europe in the 15th century, the founder of Renaissance art in the Netherlands, and a key figure in the formation period of oil painting.
? 1. The details are as real as a mirror
? When we look at this painting carefully, we feel as if through a kind of magic, an ordinary corner of the real world is suddenly transformed into Fixed in oil painting. Everything is here - the carpet and slippers, the beads on the wall, the small brush on the bedside, the fruit on the windowsill, as if we could visit Arnolfini in person at his home.
There is a mirror hanging on the wall in the painting. The frame has 10 protruding flower-shaped squares. A small circle is placed inside each square, and a story about Jesus is painted inside each circle. The image is too small to be recognized. The central circular mirror reflects the scenery of the entire room, which contains scenes of the artist painting. This kind of meticulous and delicate expression was rare at the time and can only be seen in the miniature paintings of the Netherlands. The large area of ??clothing fabric in the picture can create a strong sense of contrast, whether it is wrinkles or texture. The white velvet fabric of the wife's clothes (one theory is ermine) and the metallic chandelier above the picture create a strong sense of contrast. contrast.
There was a tendency during the Renaissance to create a new art that was unprecedentedly faithful to nature, and this passionate desire also inspired Van Eyck. He patiently adds detail to detail until the entire picture becomes like a mirror reflecting the visible world, making it feel real.
2. He was the inventor of oil painting
In order to realize his intention and insist on reflecting all the details of reality like a mirror, Van Eyck had to improve his painting technology. He was the inventor of oil painting (there has been much discussion as to whether this is correct). At that time, painters had to prepare their own paints and add some liquid to make the pigment powder form a paste before use. Although there are various preparation methods, during the Middle Ages the main ingredient for the liquid used was egg white, which worked well but dried out too quickly. Jan van Eyck was not satisfied with that formula; he could not achieve a soft transition by allowing the colors to slowly transform into each other. So he used oil instead of egg white, which allowed him to paint much more calmly and accurately.
? After repeated experiments, Yang van Eyck found that linseed oil and walnut oil are ideal blending agents. When painting on treated cloth or wooden boards, the pictures will have rich colors and realistic vision. Effect. Oil paints are extremely fine particles extracted and ground from minerals and plants, and then mixed with vegetable oil in proportion. They are opaque and have strong covering power. They can be covered layer by layer from deep to shallow, making the picture realistic. Three-dimensional feeling. Due to the improvement of materials, the brush strokes are smooth when painting, and the paint takes a moderate amount of time to dry on the canvas, making it easier to cover and modify it multiple times. The dried pigment has strong adhesion, is not easy to peel and fade, and forms rich color levels and gloss.
3. Highlight points in painting
The successful preparation of oil paints allowed him to make bright paints that can be used in transparent color layers. Using a sharp pen to create sparkling highlights on the screen, a highly precise effect was achieved; the magical effect produced astonished people at the time.
? Van Eyck used new oil painting materials to paint, which had a great influence on the painting world at that time. Since then, oil painting technology has been widely spread in other European countries, and today it has become the most important type of painting in the world.
3. Interpretation of the work
1. Who is the person in the painting?
The person in the painting is Italian businessman Giovamni Arnolfini. This businessman came to the Netherlands for business and brought his bride Jeanne de Chenany). Arnolfini was a real person who was knighted by Duke Philippe in 1420. He was also the spokesperson of the Italian Medici family in Bruges.
2. Why is this painting said to be a marriage certificate?
How did we decide that this painting represented a significant moment in their lives—their wedding (or engagement)? It is not entirely because of the actions of the characters in the painting: Arnolfini raised his right hand in the painting to express a ritual and symbolize commitment to love; the bride stretched out her right hand and placed it on the groom's left hand, swearing to be faithful to her husband forever. companion.
? Two points in the painting are thought to indicate that the painter was a witness brought in to record this momentous occasion, just as a notary might be called in to state that he was present at a similar solemn occasion. Same ritual.
The first point is that the painter wrote his Latin name "Johannes de evck fuit hie" in an obvious position on the picture, which means that Jan van Eyck was present.
The second point is that in the mirror at the back of the room we see the entire scene reflected from behind, in which we see the image of the painter-witness.
? We don’t know whether it was the Italian businessman in the painting or the painter who came up with the idea to use this new style of painting to witness this important moment, but for the first time in history, the painter became a A true witness.
3. The symbolic meaning of the elements in the painting
All the details in the interior, such as candles, brushes, brooms, apples, rosary beads and the puppy between the two people, have a certain meaning. Symbolic, they remind the association of marital happiness. The chandelier hanging above the picture is lit with a candle, which means the light leading to heaven; a pair of slippers placed in the lower corner of the picture means marriage; the puppy at the feet means loyalty; the woman's white headscarf means chastity and virginity, and the green color represents fertility. The red color symbolizes harmony; the rosary on the wall represents piety; the broomstick represents purity; and the apple on the windowsill is the forbidden fruit in the Bible and represents a warning; the round mirror with corners in the middle of the picture represents heaven. All these symbols have both Christian beliefs and secular concepts. The artist included them one by one in the painting and painted them in extremely detail.
Luxurious and bloated clothing is a kind of clothing for the wealthy among the Dutch citizens. Arnolfini's wife was often mistaken for being pregnant, when in fact she just lifted the hem of her skirt over her chest, which was a fashion at the time. Giovanni Arnolfini came from a merchant family. It is easy to see from the decorations and room furnishings that he was quite wealthy.
4. The tortuous experience after the publication of the work
? In 1434, the Dutch painter Yang van Eyck created this painting in Bruges. Later, the painting became homeless. in Spain. In the 16th and 17th centuries, people basically understood this painting as a "wedding portrait", but there is no conclusion on whose wedding portrait it was.
In 1842, during the war between Britain and Spain, the British "purchased" this painting from a Spanish prisoner of war, and it has been hidden in the National Gallery since then. Initially, the British did not know much about this painting. In 1847, when compiling a catalog of paintings, museum staff mistakenly interpreted the painting as "a portrait of Van Eyck himself at his wedding" based on a line of signatures on the back wall of the painting: "Van Eyck is here". ". So far, perhaps because people have defined this painting as a "wedding portrait", almost no one has interpreted the slightly protruding belly of the woman in the painting as a "sign of pregnancy."
Later, when people no longer regarded the painting as a "wedding portrait", the "pregnancy theory" became popular. For example, in 1855, some people interpreted this painting as "the man in the painting is reading the palm of a pregnant woman to predict the fate of her future child." At the same time, other explanations regarded this painting as a kind of oath-taking ceremony : "The man in the painting is swearing to the child in his wife's belly that they are the child's parents."
Various explanations met a "terminator" in 1934. In March 1934, art historian Panofsky published an article interpreting this painting in Burlington Magazine. Panofsky combined all the above explanations and conducted research on some historical materials, especially his academic expertise - iconography and iconological interpretation, to conduct a detailed analysis of the painting.
First of all, he thought it was a wedding portrait. In the picture, the man holds the woman's hand with his left hand and raises his right hand in front of his chest. This is a typical wedding oath gesture in the Bruges area. Secondly, the characters in the painting are Arnolfini and his wife, a nobleman from Bruges. Finally, many symbols in the painting have symbolic meanings and have a certain relationship with Christianity. For example, the chandelier at the top of the picture has nine candlesticks, but only one is lit, which represents God witnessing their wedding; the mirror in the middle of the picture is surrounded by ten gear-shaped reliefs, and the scenes on it are the ten scenes of Christ's crucifixion. Scene; the dog at the bottom of the picture symbolizes loyalty, and the two pairs of shoes taken off represent the two people standing equally before God and receiving His blessings. The fruit on the windowsill on the right is an orange, which shows Arnolfini's wealth, because at that time, oranges were very expensive fruits that most people could not afford; on the other hand, the fruit also represented the pure Garden of Eden. (Of course, some people say that the fruit is an apple.) Later generations may have different interpretations of these symbols, but most of them cannot escape Panofsky's model.
In the end, Panofsky believed that this painting was not just a description of a wedding scene, it was a proof, just like today's "marriage certificate", except that it is Prove it through painting. Among them, the most important witness of the wedding, the painter Van Eyck, appears twice in the painting, once in the form of text, that is, the painter's signature on the back wall; and the other time in the form of an image, that is, in the mirror A portrait of the artist himself. Since then, Panofsky’s interpretation has basically become the standard answer in art history textbooks.
? Of course, the part of the painting that interests the audience the most—Mrs. Arnolfini’s belly. Based on Panofsky’s theory, some people have also made a reasonable explanation: Arnolfini Mrs. Arnolfini could not be pregnant. Her slightly protruding belly was just a result of the clothes of the time. At that time, the clothes of the nobles were very loose and cumbersome. Mrs. Arnolfini lifted the excess part of her skirt and put it in front of her belly. It created the illusion that her belly was slightly bulging and she was pregnant. Furthermore, some symbol enthusiasts have used this symbol as a "mythology": Mrs. Arnolfini's slightly protruding belly may be a symbol of reproductive worship, just like the sexual characteristics of many female images in art history. They are all very prominent, indicating her extremely strong fertility.
Later historians discovered a diary of the mother of Mrs. Arnolfini in the painting. The diary recorded that her daughter had died three years before the painting was created! In view of this, some historians believe that the woman in the painting may be Arnolfini's second wife, but unfortunately, there is no specific information about this second wife in the Arnolfini family archives. Detailed records have brought the interpretation of this painting into a deadlock.
At the same time, some people have provided a new explanation for this painting. They believe that this painting is not a "wedding portrait", but a painting with memories and commemorative properties. It is Arnault In order to commemorate his deceased wife, Feeney asked the famous painter Van Eyck to create a commemorative painting. According to this interpretation, a series of symbols in the painting have also been given new interpretations, which have found evidence for those who hold this view: for example, the burning candle at the top of the painting is on the side of Arnolfini, and he Not a single candle on my wife's side was lit. The scene of Christ's crucifixion in the dentate frame, the scene on the wife's side tells the story of Christ's suffering and death, and the scene on the husband's side tells the story of Christ's resurrection. The boundary between life and death is clearly visible in the painting.
In addition, regarding the fruit in the painting, this is partly consistent with Panofsky’s point of view. It does represent the Garden of Eden, but its implicit meaning is to use the “Garden of Eden”, the most beautiful time of mankind in the past, to symbolize the “Garden of Eden” in the painting. "Memories" theme. The new interpretation also found more detailed evidence: there is a tree outside the window in the painting. According to research, it is a cherry tree. In Christianity, the cherry tree is a fruit of heaven, which also means that this is a painting to commemorate the past. Paintings of people in heaven.
? So how does the new explanation answer the central question of "Mrs. Arnolfini's belly"? They believed that this was the real cause of Mrs. Arnolfini's death. The diary of Madame Arnolfini's mother makes no mention of the cause of her daughter's death. New explanations suggest she may have died giving birth. Therefore, Arnolfini asked Van Eyck to draw his wife's pregnant figure in the painting to commemorate her. So where is the evidence? Right on the head of the bed behind Madame Arnolfini in the painting. If you look carefully at the bedside, you can see a wooden statue on it. According to research, this statue is St. Margaret, a goddess in charge of fertility. In fact, this view is not far-fetched. Because at that time, due to the backward medical conditions, giving birth was an extremely dangerous thing. Many women died while giving birth, so a kind of portrait was also popular at that time - the portrait of a pregnant woman. Some noble women were giving birth. In the past, artists would be asked to paint their portraits, just in case something unexpected happened, so that there wouldn't be no images left. In this way, the "pregnancy theory" made a comeback after nearly a hundred years.