Journal |
Venezia Arti
Monographic journal issue | 26 | 2017
Research Article | Why Was Jan van Eyck here?
Why Was Jan van Eyck here?
The Subject, Sitters, and Significance of The Arnolfini Marriage Portrait
- Benjamin Binstock - Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York City, USA - email
Abstract
Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Marriage Portrait of 1434 still poses fundamental questions. An overlooked account explained the groom’s left hand holding his bride’s right hand as a secular, legal morganatic marriage with a bride of lower social rank and wealth. That would explain Van Eyck’s presence as witness in the mirror and through his inscription, and corresponds to the recent identification of the bride and groom as Giovanni di Arrigo Arnolfini and his previously unknown first wife Helene of unknown last name. Van Eyck’s scene can be called the first modern painting, as the earliest autonomous, illusionistic representation of secular reality, provided with the earliest artist’s signature of the modern type, framing his scene as perceived and represented by a particular individual. That is why Jan van Eyck was here.
Submitted: July 17, 2017 | Accepted: Sept. 21, 2017 | Published Dec. 20, 2017 | Language: en
Keywords Jan van Eyck • Modern painting • Morganatic Marriage • Signature • Arnolfini
Copyright © 2017 Benjamin Binstock. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2385-2720/VA-26-17-7
Introduction
-
The ‘Signature’ in the Art
Authorship, Self-Awareness, Identity and Memory of Artists. Introduction - Stefano Riccioni, Giovanni Maria Fara, Nico Stringa
- Dec. 20, 2017
Middle Ages
-
Artists in North-Central Puglia Between the 11th and 13th Centuries
Artistic Production Between Style, Identity and Self-Awareness - Marida Pierno
- Dec. 20, 2017
- The Artist's Signature, the Vasari Myths and Wolvinus magister phaber
- Ivan Foletti
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
The Artist's Signature in Romanesque France
Problems, Forms, Functions - Emilie Mineo
- Dec. 20, 2017
- For a Project on the Signed Paintings of Venice in the Gothic and Late Gothic Periods
- Stefano Riccioni
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
«De Zavatarijs hanc ornavere capellam»
Historical Details on the Epigraph in the Teodolinda Chapel in the Light of the Restoration Work - Roberta Delmoro, Anna Lucchini
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
Manifestations of Authorship
Artists’ signatures in Byzantium - Maria Lidova
- Dec. 20, 2017
Modern Age
-
Why Was Jan van Eyck here?
The Subject, Sitters, and Significance of The Arnolfini Marriage Portrait - Benjamin Binstock
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
Set in Stone
Signing Carlo Crivelli of Venice - Amanda Hilliam
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
Correggio, Anselmi and Rondani
Artist Signatures in the Parma Scuola - Elisabetta Fadda
- Dec. 20, 2017
- Light on Titian's ‘Hidden’ Signature
- Marco Tagliapietra
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
Gio. Bapt. Paggius Genuensis F.
The Very Noble Science of Painting by Giovanni Battista Paggi - Valentina Frascarolo
- Dec. 20, 2017
- Signatures of Seventeenth-Century Woodcutters in the Wooden Matrices of the Galleria Estense in Modena
- Chiara Travisonni
- Dec. 20, 2017
The Twentieth Century
- Edvard Munch’s Toponymic Codes
- Patricia G. Berman
- Dec. 20, 2017
- Signing merci (Duchamp Against Himself)
- Nico Stringa
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
The Artist's Signature in the Context of the happening
Joseph Pascali fecit anno in Pino Pascali’s Requiescat in Pace Corradinus at the Subject Exhibition of the La Salita Gallery - Martina Rossi
- Dec. 20, 2017
- Alighiero & Boetti: About the Signature as Identity and Duplication
- Stefania Portinari
- Dec. 20, 2017
Collectanea
-
Memories of a Film
Ross Lipman’s Notfilm - Martina Zanco
- Dec. 20, 2017
-
The Setting up of the Ancient Seat of the Naval History Museum of Venice
An Unpublished Photo Album - Silvia Peressutti
- Dec. 20, 2017
| DC Field | Value |
|---|---|
|
dc.identifier |
ECF_article_1073 |
|
dc.title |
Why Was Jan van Eyck here?. The Subject, Sitters, and Significance of The Arnolfini Marriage Portrait |
|
dc.contributor.author |
Binstock Benjamin |
|
dc.publisher |
Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing |
|
dc.type |
Research Article |
|
dc.language.iso |
en |
|
dc.identifier.uri |
http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/venezia-arti/2017/1/why-was-jan-van-eyck-here/ |
|
dc.description.abstract |
Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Marriage Portrait of 1434 still poses fundamental questions. An overlooked account explained the groom’s left hand holding his bride’s right hand as a secular, legal morganatic marriage with a bride of lower social rank and wealth. That would explain Van Eyck’s presence as witness in the mirror and through his inscription, and corresponds to the recent identification of the bride and groom as Giovanni di Arrigo Arnolfini and his previously unknown first wife Helene of unknown last name. Van Eyck’s scene can be called the first modern painting, as the earliest autonomous, illusionistic representation of secular reality, provided with the earliest artist’s signature of the modern type, framing his scene as perceived and represented by a particular individual. That is why Jan van Eyck was here. |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Venezia Arti |
|
dc.relation.ispartof |
Vol. 26 | December 2017 |
|
dc.issued |
2017-12-20 |
|
dc.dateAccepted |
2017-09-21 |
|
dc.dateSubmitted |
2017-07-17 |
|
dc.identifier.issn |
|
|
dc.identifier.eissn |
2385-2720 |
|
dc.rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License |
|
dc.rights.uri |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
|
dc.identifier.doi |
10.14277/2385-2720/VA-26-17-7 |
|
dc.peer-review |
yes |
|
dc.subject |
Arnolfini |
|
dc.subject |
Arnolfini |
|
dc.subject |
Jan van Eyck |
|
dc.subject |
Jan van Eyck |
|
dc.subject |
Modern painting |
|
dc.subject |
Modern painting |
|
dc.subject |
Morganatic Marriage |
|
dc.subject |
Morganatic Marriage |
|
dc.subject |
Signature |
|
dc.subject |
Signature |
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