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Arnolfini Essay Research Paper Jan van Eycks

Arnolfini Essay, Research Paper


Jan van Eyck?s ?Arnolfini? Portrait


An essay written by a renowned art historian, Erwin Panofsky, discusses the controversy


over a famous painting. The disputation was over the identification of the two people portrayed


in the painting. The painting was a portrait thought to be Giovanni Arnofili and his wife, and the


artist was Jan van Eyck. Panofsky wrote this essay to prove that this painting found in 1815,


which he refers to as the ?London portrait?, is identical to a picture which was once acquired by


Queen Mary of Hungary, among others. The ?Hapsburg painting?, referring to the one owned by


the Queen, was lost in 1789. In my essay, I will show the proof given by Panofsky that the two


pictures are, in fact, the same.


By tracing the provenance of the paintings, Panofsky validates his theory that the two may


very well be just one. The theory that the two paintings are but one has been named the


?Orthodox Theory?. Since the Hapsburg painting was lost in 1789 and the London portrait


wasn?t discovered until 1815, it is more than possible that the two paintings are the same. The


gap in time between the loss of one and discovery of the other painting is thought by Panofsky


due to someone running off with the painting during the Napoleon war.


Panofsky?s essay holds much evidence to support the Orthodox Theory. For instance, the


precise inventories of the Hapsburg painting describe a man and a woman standing in a room,


joining hands with a mirror reflecting them from behind. That description is identical to the


London painting. Also, both paintings were dated 1434. Still, there are some controversies to


explore despite the obvious descriptions of the paintings. First, there was an inscription on the


London painting that read ?Johannes de Eyck fuit hic?. If this was translated in Latin, it would


read with grammatical errors, ?Johannes van Eyck was here?. Since there were some doubts


about that translation, it was taken by some to mean ?This is Johannes van Eyck?. This


interpretation made the people in the London painting Johannes and his wife, not Arnolfini. This


was a serious doubt to the Orthodox theory.


Another reason disagreement took place over the painting was because of a man who


wrote a biography of van Eyck, Carl Vermander. Vermander described the Hapsburg painting as


?a man and a woman taking each other by the right hand…and they were married by Fides who


joined them to each other?. This description would make Fides a human being, and there is no


third person in the London painting. Panofsky, being a commendable art historian, questioned


Vermander?s reliability. Panofsky openly stated that any source from Vermander was


untrustworthy, mainly because an inventory as descriptive as the one of Queen Mary?s paintings


would not possibly leave out a full sized figure as he mentioned. Also, by researching


Vermander?s information, he found that his source was Marcus van Vaernewyck, a man who


himself had never even seen the painting, nor ever spoke of it before in any of his other writings.


The description of the Hapsburg painting given by Vermander was almost exact to that of


Vaernewyck?s except for a slight change which made it obvious that Vermander had altered it


adding his own words of a painting he?d never seen. This should make it clear that it is extremely


important to make sure your sources are credible, and also that translations or restating of quotes


can be incorrectly amplified and should always be checked.


After proving Vermander wrong, and giving himself incredible credibility, Panofsky makes


another point about the Catholic background. In the Catholic dogma, before the Council of


Trent, it was unnecessary to have a priest or a witness at a wedding ceremony in order for it to be


valid. All that was needed was the mutual consent by words and actions. I believe Panofsky


brought up this point to again prove there was not a third person, and to show that the painting


was to be used as validity of their marriage. It was known that marriages before the Council,


lacking a priest or any witnesses, would more ofte

n than not end in tragedy. To better explain


this, Panofsky includes a short anecdote about a wife who fell in love with someone else, and the


husband could not prove their marriage was valid. Therefore, she left her husband and married


the father of Willibald Pirckheimer. The story showed that without witnesses, marriages often


tended to end in tragedy due to lack of proof. He uses this story as a legitimate reason that van


Eyck painted that portrait and the inscription was to be read ?Johannes van Eyck was here?. By


doing so, van Eyck was not only an artist, but he also acted as a witness of the marriage.


Van Eyck?s marriage date and the birth of his first child were also discussed by Panofsky


in some detail. In order to prove that the inscription meant what he thought, he showed that it


could not possibly mean the other interpretation, that it was van Eyck. It was known that van


Eyck?s first born was baptized before the creation of the painting, so it could not be him getting


married. He must have gotten married some time before that painting along with having a child.


Therefore, the inscription could not read ?this is Johannes van Eyck?, but rather ?Johannes van


Eyck was here?; hence the position of a witness.


Panofsky has already proved in many ways that the two paintings are in fact the same. It


is hard to doubt that two paintings with the same description, date, and perfectly matching details


such as the mirror, are different. He concluded the Orthodox theory to be true due to the false


evidence given by Vermander, and the fact that it could not be van Eyck in the painting. This


single painting was considered genius in the way it solved the problem of proving a marriage, yet


no other 15th century artist ever attempted to do the same. Panofsky compares this painting to


the picture of the marriage of David and Michal. He does so because both use symbolic meaning


in their composition. They both contain similar gestures, the raising of the forearm and joining of


the hands, and both lack a priest. Panofsky compared these paintings to show that this


composition is not uncommon in the iconography in pictures of marriage.


Van Eyck?s use of symbols, not only in Arnolfini but in all his religious works, is important


by showing iconography, or reading of symbols in a painting. Iconography is something that has


been studied for a long time by many famous people. One of which is Cesare Ripa, whose name


was a pseudonym for Giovanni Campani. He was mentioned briefly in the essay, but I did some


research and found that he was an early compiler of iconography?s who lived in Italy.


Panofsky shows how important iconography is by pointing out many of the symbols used in the


portrait of Arnolfini. A small terrier dog was added to the portrait to represent faith, which


Vermander incorrectly stated was a person. These symbols are so subtle that the common person


may not realize they stand for something far beyond what they are. For example, the one lit


candle in the chandelier represents the all seeing wisdom of God. By using iconology, one can


understand how these symbols came about and relate them to the work of art. This could open


up entire new meanings for paintings that use iconography.


This essay by Panofsky was vital by showing me that art historians must without a doubt


check every source, and be careful of translations. I believe he used a lot of quotes in other


languages to make sure he made no mistake in translating them. This goes to show that for an art


historian to be as renowned as Panofsky, you must learn many languages and be able to doubt


information that seems to be true until you personally have proven through multiple sources that it


is in fact true. Panofsky proved the Arnolfini portrait to be historically important because it


confirmed that a painting was in fact just one painting when for a long time it was doubted and


thought to be two. By doing so, the origin of the ?London? piece was discovered. All art history


has an important impact on works of art. That is why it is essential to be sure the facts are facts,


and the information is reliable.


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