(piano playing) Dr. Zucker: We're in the National Gallery and we're looking at Jan
Van Eyck's portrait of ... well, I learned this painting as
the Arnolfini wedding portrait. Dr. Harris: So did I. Dr. Zucker: But there's been a
lot of scholarship subsequently and there's a lot of disagreement over what this painting
actually represents. Dr. Harris: But the National Gallery, which probably represents the
most authoritative view right now, or the most widely accepted says that, in fact, this is not an
actual wedding taking place or being witnessed as
you and I were taught, but that it's simply a double portrait of a couple who are already married. Dr. Zucker: Some scholars
suggested that perhaps it's a memorial portrait
and the woman on the right actually had passed
away the previous year, but that's only one of
a variety of theories. Dr. Harris: No. Dr. Zucker: What we do know is, is that whoever is represented
here was an Italian merchant who worked in Bruges. Dr. Harris: Bruges was a thriving
economic town in the early 15th Century. Dr. Zucker: His wealth is quite
apparently throughout this portrait. Dr. Harris: In a way, this
portrait is about his wealth. Everything from both their clothing
to the furnishings of the house. Dr. Zucker: Some have
suggested that perhaps this is a kind of witnessing of the male actually giving a kind of authority
to the women in legal affairs. Dr. Harris: I don't think we'll ever know exactly what this represents. The thing is, that it's [unintelligible] to me that it can't simply
be just a double portrait because it really looks like
something important is happening. They're joining their
hands, their shoes are off, Dr. Zucker: Now those
all have symbolic value. This is a period when
there's tremendous importance put on symbolism, so the shoes being off, for instance, as you
mentioned is often a reference to a sacred event taking place. Dr. Harris: We have a single
candle in the chandelier, which I was taught is a
symbol of the presence of God, but again, we're just not really sure. But the way that they're joined together, the way his hand is up, perhaps he's just greeting the
visitors who we see in the mirror. Dr. Zucker: There are two people
who are in the doorway, actually, wonderfully situated where we
would be looking at this painting. Dr. Harris: It does seem to me like
something significant is going on. Dr. Zucker: That there is a
kind of witnessing taking place. Dr. Harris: Yeah, I think
that that's reinforced by the signature that
we see above the mirror and below the chandelier that says, "Johannes van eyck fuit hic" or translated, Johannes van eyck was here. So there is that sense
of the artists presences, the artist witnessing, the artist being
here in this room with these figures. Dr. Zucker: Let's go about this painting and really look at the different elements because there are many things that we do agree about as our historians. The mirror in the center is really one of the most compelling elements you have, not only in a sense, the
greater visual reality of this room depicted
because we can actually see as if we're standing in the back
of the room looking forward, Dr. Harris: Scenes from
the passion of Christ. Dr. Zucker: ... painted on the back pieces of glass panels that are
set into that wooden frame. Dr. Harris: I have to say that it's hard to get a sense of this when
you're watching a video or looking at illustrations in a book, but those little roundels
around the mirror, how big would you say those are? Dr. Zucker: They are, I would
say, about half the size ... Dr. Zucker: ... half the
size of my fingernail. Dr. Harris: Yeah, they're tiny. And yet we can make out what scenes from the Passion of Christ
are represented there, there's that attention to detail and detail painted in enormous clarity that we associate with
the Northern Renaissance. Dr. Zucker: Some of this painting seems to have been painted with
a single [hair brush]. Dr. Harris: If you look at the
hair of the dog, for example. Dr. Zucker: The dog is
an interesting element because you wouldn't expect to
see a dog in a formal portrait. How many wedding photographs
have you seen with a dog in it? Dr. Harris: Actually, dogs are common
symbols in paintings of couples because the dog is a symbol
of fidelity or loyalty. Dr. Zucker: Of course,
there's tremendous attention that's been paid to the
dress of both figures and there's a kind of curious element because they're wearing fur-lined clothing and yet there is fruit
on the tree outside. So, it's a war moment and yet they're
wearing their finest winter wear, that's an issue that has, I
think, perplexed our historians. Dr. Harris: And that
fruit on the window sill may also be a symbol,
or a sign I should say, of their wealth since oranges
were very expensive in Flanders. Dr. Zucker: Someone
suggested that that was one of the items that the
Arnolfini's actually imported a reference to the source of their wealth. Dr. Harris: This is a good
example of one of the ways that it's easy to misinterpret, it looks as though the
scene is taking place in what we would think of as the bedroom, in a kind of private space, but in fact, bedrooms were
not that in the 15th Century. They were rooms where
you received visitors. Dr. Zucker: And a symbol of wealth. There are all kinds of
symbols of wealth here, beyond the oranges if you look
at the carpet down on the floor, that would have been an example
of both taste and wealth. Dr. Harris: Look at the way that the ... you see those teeny little cuts in the
green robe that she wears, those heavy ... Dr. Zucker: That's been
frayed out that was ... Dr. Zucker: ... that
was a very fashionable. Dr. Harris: And the crispness of the lace that she wears around her head. Dr. Zucker: Now, there's a
mistake that is often made, which is people often look at
the sort of bulge of her belly and suggest that she's pregnant, Dr. Harris: Right. Dr. Zucker: This was very much an
expression of the fashion of the day. Dr. Harris: Right and
another way that it's easy to misinterpret based on what
we know in the 21st Century. Dr. Zucker: Van Ecyk is, I
think, critically important not only because of the
brilliance of his painting, but because he was using oil paint in a way that had never really been used. He was able to create a luminous quality, a richness of color that
tempera simply couldn't achieve. Dr. Harris: Yeah, and he's doing this because he's applying
thin, multiple layers, or glazes of thinned out oil painting so that each layer is translucent and layer after layer
applied creates these incredibly deep rich colors. Dr. Zucker: Which allows him to then produce this rich, luminous,
incredibly subtle light. Dr. Harris: I know. Dr. Zucker: ... and moves
across the faces of the figures, their hands, across the furniture. Dr. Harris: On the
chandelier, the little shadow cast by that bottom bar of the window. There's a real love of light here that also is very typical
of the Northern Renaissance. Dr. Zucker: And the way they can
sort of brilliantly pick up a color, like on the oranges, for instance, or to find an object such
as Arnolfini's shoes. Dr. Harris: The figures
are kind elongated. The base of the room seems very cramped, it's filled with all of
these material objects. Dr. Zucker: It's certainly
not [perspectogoly] correct. Dr. Harris: Right and
both of those things, that lack of interest in human anatomy and the rational
prospectively correct space really tells that we're not
in the Italian Renaissance we're in the Northern Renaissance, that love of texture,
the use of oil paint, the attention to detail. Van Eyck is a master, or 'the'
master of the Northern Renaissance. (piano playing)