Van Eyck: The Arnolfini Marriage

Jan van Eyck - Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife 1434 - Oil on oak, 82 x 60 cm (32.3 x 23.6 in) National Gallery, London (click photo for larger image)"The Arnolfini Marriage" is a name that has been given to this untitled double portrait by Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441). It is one of the greatest celebrations of human mutuality. This painting reveals to us the inner meaning of a true marriage. Giovanni Arnolfini, a prosperous Italian banker who had settled in Bruges, and his wife Giovanna Cenami, stand side by side in the bridal chamber, facing towards the viewer. The husband is holding out his wife's hand. Despite the restricted space, the painter has contrived to surround them with a host of symbols. To the left, the oranges placed on the low table and the windowsill are a reminder of an original innocence, of an age before sin. Above the couple's heads, the candle that has been left burning in broad daylight on one of the branches of an ornate copper chandelier can be interpreted as the nuptial flame, or as the eye of God. The small dog in the foreground is an emblem of fidelity and love. Meanwhile, the marriage bed with its bright red curtains evokes the physical act of love which, according to Christian doctrine, is an essential part of the perfect union of man and wife.

Although all these different elements are highly charged with meaning, they are of secondary importance compared to the mirror, the focal point of the whole composition. It has often been noted that two tiny figures can be seen reflected in it, their image captured as they cross the threshold of the room. They are the painter himself and a young man, doubtless arriving to act as witnesses to the marriage. The essential point, however, is the fact that the convex mirror is able to absorb and reflect in a single image both the floor and the ceiling of the room, as well as the sky and the garden outside, both of which are otherwise barely visible through the side window. The mirror acts as a sort of hole in the texture of space. It sucks the entire visual world into itself, transforming it into a representation. The cubic space in which the Arnolfinis stand is a prefiguration of the techniques of perspective, which were still to come.

Bosch: Diabolic Enterprises

Hieronymus Bosch - Triptych of Temptation of St Anthony - 1505-06 - Oil on panel, 131,5 x 119 cm (central), 131,5 x 53 cm (each wing) - Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon (click photo for larger image)The Temptation of Saint Anthony is one of the masterpieces of Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) ( http://www.hieronymus-bosch.org ). The diabolic enterprises represented in the triptych reach a climax in the central panel. Devils of all species, human and grotesque, arrive from all directions by land, water and air, to converge upon a ruined tomb in the center. On a platform before the tomb, an elegantly dressed pair have set up a table from which they dispense drink to their companions. Nearby, a woman wearing a large headdress and a gown with an extravagantly long train kneels at a parapet to offer a bowl to a figure opposite. Kneeling beside her, almost unnoticed, in the middle of this hellish activity, is Saint Anthony himself. He turns towards the viewer, his right hand raised in blessing. His gesture is echoed by Christ half-hidden in the depths of the tomb, which Anthony has converted into a chapel.

“The Adoration of the Magi”

Pieter Bruegel the Younger - “Adoration of the Magi” - 1600 - Oil on panel, 38 x 56 cm - Museo Correr, Venice (click photo for larger image)Pieter Bruegel the Elder - “Adoration of the Kings in the Snow” - 1567 - Tempera on panel, 35 x 55 cm - Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur (click photo for larger image)

The son of the great Pieter Bruegel the Elder, (1525/30-1569), Pieter Bruegel the Younger, (1564-1638) produced rather superficial but invariably charming paintings based on his father's celebrated works. After a lapse of decades he revived these tender and moving scenes of peasant life, with their deep humanity and pragmatic realism. In Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s earlier interpretation of the same scene, the artist has presented it as a “natural event and the life of the people in a village in wintertime.” His (the Elder's) may well be the first painting in the history of European art to depict falling snow. Both of these paintings bring the Birth of Christ to the Netherlands.

Netherlandish painting; Northern Renaissance

Pieter Aertsen - Cook in Front of the Stove - 1559 - Oil on wood, 172,5 x 82 cm - Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (click photo for larger image)Even though he never painted a picture not containing a human figure, Netherlandish painter Pieter Aertsen (1508-1575) played an essential role in the emergence of the still-life by granting a dominating place to objects and to victuals, which he represents in all their triviality. While it’s very apparent that every element was keenly observed by the artist—the image has nonetheless been recomposed in the studio. “What cook would place small fowls and a heavy leg of lamb on the same spit?” It’s also worth noting that this artist was also an early contributor to what would become genre painting—scenes of everyday people leading everyday lives.

IMAGE 473 AERTSEN: Pieter Aertsen - Cook in Front of the Stove - 1559 - Oil on wood, 172,5 x 82 cm - Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels

Netherlandish painting; Northern Renaissance

The Feast of the Passover

Dieric Bouts the Elder - Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament - 1464-67 - Oil on panel, 185 x 294 cm - Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven (click photo for larger image)This panel is part of a large altarpiece that features the Last Supper as the primary central subject matter. The surroundings panels—this being one of them—all depict Old Testament themes. Dieric Bouts the Elder (1415-1475) was one of the most unique of the Early Netherlandish painters.

A Happy Passover to all who celebrate it!