The Importance Of Art In Fifteenth Century Europe

In my opinion, fifteenth-century Europe is an inspiring chapter to read. Not only because of the remarkable artworks, but also because of the fact that many people in this period rose to power through their own accomplishments instead of inheritance. One of the famous paintings during this time that caught my attention is the portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and a woman standing next to him who is believed by many as his wife. What interests me about this is the number of different interpretations created on this particular work. Also, this artwork shows how extravagant life was for people who created their power in ways other than inheritance. However, it is not surprising to find out that a piece of artwork like this in the 15th century still creates religious depictions. Furthermore, artists used many different symbols in their work such as dog for fidelity. …show more content…
I think the reason for this is that those who commit a crime of fidelity were considered an animal. Aside from this symbol, they also had many symbols for wealth, which now gives us an idea of how wealthy they really were in this period. Furthermore, I find it notable that in this century, Flemish paintings were “simpler, more direct, and often easier to understand”. Despite the simplicity of these works, they depicted emotion and daily life story. It is surprising to find out that Flemish art spread out to many different regions in Europe and was made in different versions depending on the region where it existed. Currently, courts don’t use many extravagant artworks but 15th century courts did. However, I don’t understand the reason why the court would be so interested in artworks. This shows me that art in this period existed not only throughout Europe but also existed in many different parts of the 15th century European