The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyk: Artwork Evaluation Essay

Art criticism refers to making both favorable and unfavorable judgements about an art piece. However, it is not possible to measure the quality of an artistic piece objectively, the same way we can measure the speed of a vehicle or the temperature of warm water.

There are three theories or steps of art criticism that put an emphasis on the culture, work, and the artist. The formal theories are focused on paying attention to the composition of an artwork as well as what were the major influences. These theories suggest that the most powerful influences on the artist are what he or she has seen or studied previously. Furthermore, critics that follow formal theories above all value the innovation of the style because art is viewed as a source of refreshment that is not connected to the complicated world (Frank 2008, p. 91).

The sociocultural theories of art evaluation are based on the environmental aspects that influence the artwork. They look at the economic and political situation as well as the system of cultural values. In order to successfully conduct a criticism of an artwork, it is required to conduct a thorough investigation of the culture that surrounds the work and look at it from the perspective of cultural values expressed.

The third approach towards art criticism is the expressive theory. This theory examines the work of art from a humanist perspective because people create all artworks. The level of skill, the intent, the mental state, gender as well as the mindset of an artist play crucial roles in the creative process. Such expressive theories are also called emphatic. Critics that follow the expressive theories of art evaluation mostly look at the personal meaning presented in the artwork, its psychological insight or the profound human concern. Furthermore, expressive theories of art criticism are predominantly based on the studies of gender and psychoanalysis (Frank 2008, p. 96).

Arnolfini Portrait Interpretation

The Arnolfini Portrait (1434) or otherwise knows as the Arnolfini Wedding painted by Jan Van Eyk is often called the epitome of the early Netherlandish painting tradition both in scholarly circles as well as the general public. More recently, the painting has been a subject of scholars that deal with methodological concerns and has elicited “revisionist interpretations representative of postmodernist points of view” (Hall 1997, p. 17). The reason for the widespread popularity of the Arnolfini Portrait in the National Gallery in London is not difficult to outline. The modern viewer of reinforced by the uniqueness of the artwork as one of the earliest existing representation of two living individuals in a realistically refined interior space.

Formal Theory Perspective

When examining the artwork from the formal theory perspective, it is important to look at the composition. The art piece depicts a man and a woman (likely Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami) hand in hand; the man holds the woman’s hand in his left while raising his right hand as if in a speech gesture. They appear in the interior of a bedroom, rich in various detail (shoes, slippers, a small dog, fruits on the windowsill, a prie-dieu, a carpet, the luxurious bed with red hangings, small sculptures with Christian subject matter). On the background wall, there is a round mirror framed with small round images of the Passion reflects the couple as well as the painter himself that is not depicted in the front of the painting (Carlshamre & Pettersson 2003, p. 143).

Jan Van Eyk is considered a part of the great revolution and the one who was the first to articulate the modern, psychological dimension with the Arnolfini Portrait as a recorded instance. According to Carlshamre & Pettersson (2003), there is a split between the artist’s observations of the bodies and his attention to the mental state of the depicted people: the figures are motionless because they are lost in their inner mood (p. 148). The figures in the painting lack a culturally defined state of mind can serve as a tool to postulate the new sense of inner subjective dimension. To conclude this part of artwork interpretation, it is important to note that the figures depicted in the Arnolfini Portrait are historically defined figures; their posture is only important as to the motif of the artist. Moreover, the scene appears completely silent which is reflected by the lack of motion and the fact that they are absorbed in their mental state.

Sociocultural Perspective

When it comes to the examination of the Arnolfini Portrait from the sociocultural perspective, is is worth noting that the couple depicted in the artwork are real historical figures. Giovanni Alnorfini and Giovanna Venami were wealthy Italians merchants that had connections with the court of Duke of Burgundy. The painting of the couple can also be seen as a legal document, a marriage certificate with Jan Van Eyk’s ‘signature’ in the mirror as what can be interpreted as evidence that someone bore witness to the event of the marriage (Buchholz 2000, par. 5). In the sociocultural context, Van Eyk emphasizes the wedding traditions that existed in wealthy Italian families of merchants. Their unions were widely documented in the social history of the 14^th and 15^th centuries as means of moving upward on the social ladder and the well-calculated improvement of family resources and social status. Furthermore, it was quite possible that Arnolfini’s financial relations with the French king were caused in part from his marriage to Giovanna who was a prospective bride for her “ex- corona Franciae” (from the French crown) status (Hall 1997, p. 93).

Thus, based on the evaluation above, what Arnolfini Portrait really celebrates in not the sacred act of marriage, but rather an alliance between two rich Italian merchantile families with all the financial, social, and political benefits that may be expected to appear therefrom. What cemented the alliance was not the sacramental rite of the church but a formalized, ceremonious union. Thus, the ceremonious union was likely the event both husband and wife wanted to document and remember.

Expressive Perspective

In the majority of discussions about the Arnolfini Portrait there is a dominant view of the enigmatic nature and intent of the art piece. Such so-called qualities were attributed to the fact that the painter wanted to deceive the viewers and present a confusing image. For instance, Mark Roskill (cited in Hall 1997, p. 18) offers a skeptical observation that “we can hope to know beyond reasonable doubt what exactly the picture shows.” Linda Seidel (cited in Hall 1997, p. 18) also shares this opinion and states that the portrait is a “visual enigma, a riddle in which nothing is as it appears to be.” Lastly, the British historian Christopher Brooke (cited in Hall 1997, p. 18) makes the explicit intent of Van Eyk be mysterious and undecipherable: “We can only be sure that he meant to puzzle us – meant us to enquire, to search, to think.”

Thus, the true intent of the painter was to puzzle the viewer and cipher into the painting a hidden meaning that has not been completely outlined yet. The above comments of the real nature of the portrait gave a start to the progressive dehistoricization of the artwork that then turned into the disguised symbolism theories hidden in the picture. However, the methodologically sound approach towards explaining the painting as an evidence of a sacramental marriage rite had little ground. Furthermore, the interpretation of the separate objects in the picture is very often biased speculation.

To conclude the expressive evaluation of the Arnolfini Portrait it is important to note that the artistic skill and the technical aspect of the painting are easily forgotten due to the endless search for a hidden meaning covered by the enthralling virtuosity. For example, the painting encourages the viewer focus his or her attention at the mirror in the background thus extending the vision deep in the art piece, forgetting about the technical aspects like the color scheme or the frequency of the brush strokes. The skill of the painter that helped to execute the portrait with a variety of detail including the ten small medallions that frame the mirror. His technical virtuosity was the aspect other painters wanted to imitate. The main themes that exist in the picture are the depiction theme that shows people standing still and the painter recording what he sees and the inner mood theme that plays a function of drawing vagueness and pertinence to the faces of Giovanni Arnolfini his wife, Giovanna Cenami.

Reference List

Buchholz, S 2000, A picture worth many thousand words, viewed 2016. Web.

Carlshamre, S & Pettersson, A 2003, Types of Interpretation in the aesthetic disciplines, McGill-Queen’s University Press, London, UK.

Frank, P 2008 Prebles’ Artforms, 9th edn, Pearson, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Hall, E 1997, The Arnolfini betrothal, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.