I hadn’t considered the fact that
paintings had such a strong historical
and symbolic meaning to them until one
night my dad done his friend Simon were
arguing over a painting
it was called the Arnolfini portrait my
dad said that there was a whole load of
history behind it and a whole load of
symbols on the other hand someone had a
different view and said it was much
simpler this intrigued me so began to
question what everything meant as I
began my research I realized that
paintings can teach you a lot about the
past and our art history and a religion
are very closely linked the on Afeni
portrait is an oil painting on an oak
panel by the early Dutch painter Jean
Vanier
in 1432 it was one of the most famous
paintings of the Flemish art school
during the Renaissance period Jean
Vanier who was born in 1390 in my sake
Belgium the Arnolfini portrait was his
last painting and seven years later he
died on the 9th of July 1441 aged 51 51
years old was actually classified as an
average death age two figures stand in a
square room they are the Italian cloth
trader bhavani and his beloved wife
Constanza the man on the left is rung of
very heavy coats and he is wearing a
very large top hats with one hand he
gives a lazy wave in our direction and
with the other he seems to be reading
the pregnant woman’s palm the woman
looks as though she is sad but because
she is wearing a bright green dress she
is in fact happy and also if you look
closely at her dress it looks as though
she is pregnant but Jean Vanier often
painted women to look pregnant in his
paintings because it was considered a
fashion at the time and if you look at
her left hand
she is grabbing hold of her dress to
make it look as though she is pregnant
but other people disagree with this and
say she is doing this to emphasize the
amount of fabric that’s in it for many
years people said that this was a
wedding portrait because the woman is
thought to be pregnant which is possible
because there’s a statue of Saint
Margaret in the background which
symbolizes pregnancy but at the same
time there’s a statue of the Virgin Mary
which symbolizes that she wasn’t
pregnant so is stuck here because we’re
not sure if she was pregnant Lynott’s
others add that the statutes and
Margaret’s symbolizes fruitfulness in
their marriage Constanza sadly enough
had died a year before this portrait was
painted which makes some critics think
that this was a portrait for memory of
Constanza we are not a hundred percent
sure if their husband or wife but
Panofsky he contributed so the study of
the unoffending portraits argues towards
the critics and says that this is in
fact a wedding certificate not a wedding
portrait Panofsky then shows the convex
mirror in on the back wall with a wooden
frame with pictures of Christ Jean did
not only reflect the couple but also
other two people in Blair red they are
thought to be Jean Vanier himself
because an inscription just above the
mirror which says Jean Vanier was here
14:32
but the other one is unknown and so far
no one has suggested to who it might be
the outdoor sandals on the floor in the
bottom left corner have been taken off
to show a sign of respect and what I
find amazing is that the paint was able
to show the detail of wood in their
sandals such as oak on the window sill
are some oranges which in bruges oranges
were red delicacy imported from the far
south the fruit and its blossoms were
symbols of love marriage and summer
which was a happy time of year
and doctor said to keep the oranges with
you to stop you from catching the plague
look at how John van yack paints the
detail of wood and brick against the
cherries leaves in sky the dog could
represent fidelity and also wealth
because apparently the dog was a rare
breed and if he look closely at the dog
he is looking towards the viewer and has
a human face to him the chandelier on
the ceiling has only one lit candle
which could symbolize God’s all-seeing
eye and also if this is a memorial
portrait the lit candle is a living man
and the burnt out candles is a metaphor
for the disease Constanza the Arnolfini
portrait is a one-of-a-kind and before
this talk you probably thought it was a
painting with no history on symbolic
meaning behind it but now that you’ve
listened to this talk you can see art in
a different way and think and spend
hours talking and thinking about what
different means it makes me wonder
whether art is something that is
objective or subjective what do you
think thank you [Applause]
paintings had such a strong historical
and symbolic meaning to them until one
night my dad done his friend Simon were
arguing over a painting
it was called the Arnolfini portrait my
dad said that there was a whole load of
history behind it and a whole load of
symbols on the other hand someone had a
different view and said it was much
simpler this intrigued me so began to
question what everything meant as I
began my research I realized that
paintings can teach you a lot about the
past and our art history and a religion
are very closely linked the on Afeni
portrait is an oil painting on an oak
panel by the early Dutch painter Jean
Vanier
in 1432 it was one of the most famous
paintings of the Flemish art school
during the Renaissance period Jean
Vanier who was born in 1390 in my sake
Belgium the Arnolfini portrait was his
last painting and seven years later he
died on the 9th of July 1441 aged 51 51
years old was actually classified as an
average death age two figures stand in a
square room they are the Italian cloth
trader bhavani and his beloved wife
Constanza the man on the left is rung of
very heavy coats and he is wearing a
very large top hats with one hand he
gives a lazy wave in our direction and
with the other he seems to be reading
the pregnant woman’s palm the woman
looks as though she is sad but because
she is wearing a bright green dress she
is in fact happy and also if you look
closely at her dress it looks as though
she is pregnant but Jean Vanier often
painted women to look pregnant in his
paintings because it was considered a
fashion at the time and if you look at
her left hand
she is grabbing hold of her dress to
make it look as though she is pregnant
but other people disagree with this and
say she is doing this to emphasize the
amount of fabric that’s in it for many
years people said that this was a
wedding portrait because the woman is
thought to be pregnant which is possible
because there’s a statue of Saint
Margaret in the background which
symbolizes pregnancy but at the same
time there’s a statue of the Virgin Mary
which symbolizes that she wasn’t
pregnant so is stuck here because we’re
not sure if she was pregnant Lynott’s
others add that the statutes and
Margaret’s symbolizes fruitfulness in
their marriage Constanza sadly enough
had died a year before this portrait was
painted which makes some critics think
that this was a portrait for memory of
Constanza we are not a hundred percent
sure if their husband or wife but
Panofsky he contributed so the study of
the unoffending portraits argues towards
the critics and says that this is in
fact a wedding certificate not a wedding
portrait Panofsky then shows the convex
mirror in on the back wall with a wooden
frame with pictures of Christ Jean did
not only reflect the couple but also
other two people in Blair red they are
thought to be Jean Vanier himself
because an inscription just above the
mirror which says Jean Vanier was here
14:32
but the other one is unknown and so far
no one has suggested to who it might be
the outdoor sandals on the floor in the
bottom left corner have been taken off
to show a sign of respect and what I
find amazing is that the paint was able
to show the detail of wood in their
sandals such as oak on the window sill
are some oranges which in bruges oranges
were red delicacy imported from the far
south the fruit and its blossoms were
symbols of love marriage and summer
which was a happy time of year
and doctor said to keep the oranges with
you to stop you from catching the plague
look at how John van yack paints the
detail of wood and brick against the
cherries leaves in sky the dog could
represent fidelity and also wealth
because apparently the dog was a rare
breed and if he look closely at the dog
he is looking towards the viewer and has
a human face to him the chandelier on
the ceiling has only one lit candle
which could symbolize God’s all-seeing
eye and also if this is a memorial
portrait the lit candle is a living man
and the burnt out candles is a metaphor
for the disease Constanza the Arnolfini
portrait is a one-of-a-kind and before
this talk you probably thought it was a
painting with no history on symbolic
meaning behind it but now that you’ve
listened to this talk you can see art in
a different way and think and spend
hours talking and thinking about what
different means it makes me wonder
whether art is something that is
objective or subjective what do you
think thank you [Applause]
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