Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, 1434
Soohyun Park
Art History 1001-002
Writing Assignment 1: Formal Analysis
Feb 25, 2015
Jan Van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Wedding Portrait” can be analyzed through composition, color, light, details, and perspective. First of all, this painting has symmetrical composition. Specifically, a man and woman are placing in the middle of the painting, and they are holding hands. With the couple’s holding hands as the central figure, position of the man and woman, bed, and window is perfectly symmetrical. Also, Chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a mirror, a couch, couple’s holding hands, and a dog are perpendicularly lining up. That perpendicular line functions as a central line, which divide this painting …show more content…
Specifically, the man is wearing a black straw cap and velvet cloak, lined up with fur. The man’s clothing, even socks, is dark and dull. A wall in the left side is a part that is not affected by the main source of the light, so the whole wall is painted with dark color. On the contrary to the dark side of the room, there are some bright color things in the right side of the painting. For example, the woman is wearing vivid green robe, which is trimmed with fur, and her clothing consists of an inordinate amount of bright color fabric. Besides, she is wearing white color veil on her head. Including her white clean skin, overall image of the woman is bright and honorable. Compared to the wall on the left, color of the bed, which is placed in the right side, is distinctly bright. Moreover, the bed is placed right across to the window, so the bed
is the first thing that people notice among the objects placed behind the couple. Lighting is one of the main elements in this painting. The main source of the light in this room is a large window, which is placed in the left side of the painting. There is another light source in the room, such …show more content…
Because of an impact of the main source of the light, she seems to be honorable. I cannot completely deny that color of the man and woman’s clothing is also affected on the mood of two people, but the light, especially the main source of the light, is involved in every aspects of this painting, such as chandelier, cast shadow of the man and woman, and the floor.
This painting is using specific material for more value. On the back wall, there is a spotless convex mirror, and it is reflecting everything in the room including two other individuals in the middle of the man and woman. I personally regard he or she who is wearing a blue cloak as a painter because he is in front of the man and woman like a painter who is depicting them. In the mirror, there is other person, except man, woman, and painter. The other is
unknown because he did not remain any clue that can recognize him or her, except red outfit. As shown in the case of the mirror, artist well depicts every detail and provides the image from different perspective of the room.
Depiction of this painting is impressive because of different method. To be specific, artist depicted sandal and floor with same material, which is wood.
Soohyun Park
Art History 1001-002
Writing Assignment 1: Formal Analysis
Feb 25, 2015
Jan Van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Wedding Portrait” can be analyzed through composition, color, light, details, and perspective. First of all, this painting has symmetrical composition. Specifically, a man and woman are placing in the middle of the painting, and they are holding hands. With the couple’s holding hands as the central figure, position of the man and woman, bed, and window is perfectly symmetrical. Also, Chandelier hanging from the ceiling, a mirror, a couch, couple’s holding hands, and a dog are perpendicularly lining up. That perpendicular line functions as a central line, which divide this painting …show more content…
Specifically, the man is wearing a black straw cap and velvet cloak, lined up with fur. The man’s clothing, even socks, is dark and dull. A wall in the left side is a part that is not affected by the main source of the light, so the whole wall is painted with dark color. On the contrary to the dark side of the room, there are some bright color things in the right side of the painting. For example, the woman is wearing vivid green robe, which is trimmed with fur, and her clothing consists of an inordinate amount of bright color fabric. Besides, she is wearing white color veil on her head. Including her white clean skin, overall image of the woman is bright and honorable. Compared to the wall on the left, color of the bed, which is placed in the right side, is distinctly bright. Moreover, the bed is placed right across to the window, so the bed
is the first thing that people notice among the objects placed behind the couple. Lighting is one of the main elements in this painting. The main source of the light in this room is a large window, which is placed in the left side of the painting. There is another light source in the room, such …show more content…
Because of an impact of the main source of the light, she seems to be honorable. I cannot completely deny that color of the man and woman’s clothing is also affected on the mood of two people, but the light, especially the main source of the light, is involved in every aspects of this painting, such as chandelier, cast shadow of the man and woman, and the floor.
This painting is using specific material for more value. On the back wall, there is a spotless convex mirror, and it is reflecting everything in the room including two other individuals in the middle of the man and woman. I personally regard he or she who is wearing a blue cloak as a painter because he is in front of the man and woman like a painter who is depicting them. In the mirror, there is other person, except man, woman, and painter. The other is
unknown because he did not remain any clue that can recognize him or her, except red outfit. As shown in the case of the mirror, artist well depicts every detail and provides the image from different perspective of the room.
Depiction of this painting is impressive because of different method. To be specific, artist depicted sandal and floor with same material, which is wood.