Giovanni Arnolfini And His Wife Analysis

Jan van Eyck’s, Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, was created during the midst of the early Renaissance, specifically the year 1434. But, it was not created in Italy along with the Renaissance. Instead, the ideas and rules of the place had spread, through various artists and trade, to places like Flanders. This oil on panel artwork, however is not like most portraits; in fact, this is a full-length double portrait. Many scholars and historians believe that this is one of the most complex early western art. The actual painting is domestic in scale. Nonetheless, the details are so fine it is possible to make out two figures in a tiny mirror. The way that Van Eyck accomplished this is by the technique he used to layer the painting. Because unlike artists of the time that used tempera that dried relatively quickly, Eyck’s oil paint dried much slower and allowed for small but effective textures and details to be incorporated. Furthermore, Van Eyck used a magnifying glass in order to paint the smallest of the features like the highlights of beads and skin. Another benefit of using oil paint was that, as the paint dried, Eyck used more wet paint and blended colors to make small changes and hint three dimensional objects. This all led to a beautiful scene that depicts Giovanni Arnolfini giving his wife permission …show more content…
His wife, Costanza Trenta, pictured in the painting, had died one year earlier. Thus, many experts believe this is a form of memorabilia. The painting did not see a museum till the 19th century. It had been in royal inventories and personal collections for hundreds of years. It was passed down from country to country until the National Gallery in London bought the painting in 1842. By this time the original frame had gone but the painting did not lose much quality. The painting is in the Sunley Room where visitors can view it along with other of Jan van Eycks works at the same