COVER PLATE
40 Michele d' Alessio di Papi: The patron of Pontormo's
Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and Costanza Trenta S Ruffillo Altarpiece
Arnolfini by Jan van Eyck (c. 1395-1441), 1434. Louis A. Waldman
Oil on panel, 82.2 x 60 cm. © The National
Gallery. Discussed in the article on p . 3
3
tion was based on the assumption that absorbed Mary of Hungary's collection
the couple's right hands were clasped on her death.
(since this was required in a marriage cer- A visitor from Leipzig in 1599, Jacob
emony) and that a personification of Faith Quelviz, saw the picture in the Spanish
joined them together. 4 royal collection and described it as fol-
It was only a few steps from there to the lows: 'an image where a young man and
marriage theory set forth by a young woman are joining hands as if
Panofsky, who judged the misunder- they are promising future marriage: there
standings to be the result of poor Latin, is much writing and also this: Promissas
arguing that these earlier sources intend- fallito quid enim promittere laeditiPollicitis
ed to say the couple was married per diues quilibet esse potest.'" The Latin quo-
fidem, a legal term indicating a private tation is from Ovid's Ars amatoria, and
marriage. 'According to canon law', this document represents the earliest
Panofsky wrote, 'marriage was concluded known reference to an inscription includ-
by taking an oath, and this oath (fides) ing these lines on the now lost frame.
implied two actions: that of joining hands Nevertheless, the possibility that the cou-
(fides manualis) and, on the part of the plet, as well as the frame itself, had
groom, that of raising his forearm (fides 2 Portrait of Margarete van Eyck by Jan van Eyek always been part of Van Eyck's picture
(c. 1395-1441), 1439. Oil on pane!, 32 x 26 em.
levata, a gesture still retained by our legal Groeningemuseum, Bruges should not be ruled out.
procedure). ~5 His learned coinage of the An inventory from about 1700 of paint-
phrase fides levata - a convincing but alto- ings belonging to King Charles II of Spain
gether fictional Latin term' - would gives the only other reference to the
contribute to the overwhelming success of inscription. This entry demonstrates the
Panofsky's account. way in which a text written on a frame
Important information concerning the can actually increase confusion regarding
picture may be gleaned from invento - a work's subject-matter: 'a picture on
ries. These were often, if not always, panel with two doors that close with its
made with the original to hand. 7 The wooden frame gilded with unburnished
inventory of Margaret of Austria's col - gold, some verses from Ovid written on
lection at Malines, taken in her the frame of the picture, which is of a
presence, dates from 17 July 1516, and pregnant German woman dressed in
records 'a large picture which is called green giving her hand to a youth and it
Hemoul Ie Fin with his wife in a cham- appears that they are getting married by
ber, which was given to Madame by night and the verses declare how they are
Don Diego, whose arms are on the deceiving each other and the doors are of
cover of the said picture; done by the wood painted with marbling, valued at 16
painter Johannes.'8Another inventory of doubloons. 112
the same collection, made between 9 An inventory from 1794 offers little in
July 1523 and 17 April 1524, includes 3 Portrait ofJan de Leeuw by Jan van Eyek (c. 1395- terms of the subject of the picture, but
this entry: 'another very exquisite pic- 1441), 1436. Oil on pane!, 33 x 28 em. reiterates a common misconception from
Kunsthistorisehes Museum, Vienna
ture, which closes with two shutters, Vasari concerning the painter's technical
where there are painted a man and a originality: 'one vara high by three quar-
woman, standing, touching hands, done ters of a vara wide, a man and a woman
by the hand of Johannes, the arms and holding hands, Juan de Encinas, inventor
device of the late Don Diego on the said of oil painting, 6000 reals .'13 During the
two shutters, the name of the personage Peninsular War, Van Eyck's painting was
being Amoult Fin.' This 'Don Diego' is transferred to England, before entering
Don Diego de Guevara, a Spanish the collection of the National Gallery in
nobleman who grew up and lived in the 1842.14
Low Countries; he died in 1520 .. The frame with the Ovidian inscrip-
The Double portrait passed by descent tion was lost at some time between 1700
to Mary of Hungary, who had moved to and 1842. Most extant portraits by Jan
Spain in 1556. Her inventory from around van Eyck include some kind of identify-
1558 includes the following: 'a large ing inscription on the frame, often
panel,with two doors with which it clos- featuring the sitter's name, painted illu-
es, and in it a man and a woman who sionistically as if chiselled into stone or
take each other's hands, with a mirror in carved into wood (Fig. 2, 3 and 4) . In the
which the said man and woman are case of the Double portrait, the invento-
shown, and on the doors the arms of Don ries eventually stopped mentioning the
Diego de Guevara; done by Juanes de 4 Man in a red turban by Jan van Eyek (c. 1395- names of the persons depicted - either
Hec, in the year 1434." 0 The panel then 1441), 1433. Oil on pane!, 33 .1 x 25.9 em. © The because the sitters had passed out of
passed to the King of Spain, who National Gallery memory and their inscribed names were
4
not considered worth mentioning, or
because there was no inscription by the
time a given inventory was made. Per-
haps the names were cleverly encoded,
as on Van Eyck's Portrait of Jan de Leeuw,
in which the date is represented in the
form of a chronogram (Fig. 3).
The first two inventories do, however,
state the identity of the man depicted. The
name 'Hernoulle Fin', mentioned in Mar-
garet of Austria's inventory, depended
either on an inscription or on documenta-
tion from Don Diego. 15 Presumably a
discerning former owner would have left
any inscription on the frame, especially
one painted by a master of Van Eyck's
prestige. Edwin Hall claims that the dif-
ferent vernacular spellings of the surname
demonstrate that the name's appearance
5 Triptych with the Virgin and Child, St George and a Donor, and St Catherine
in the inventories depends ultimately on by Jan van Eyek (c. 1395-1441), 1437. Oil on panel, 33.1 x 54.7 em.
oral- rather than written - history (as we Gemaldegalerie, Staatliehe Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.
have seen, the 1523-24 inventory calls Photo: Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York
him 'Arnoult Fin' and that of 1516
'Hernoulle Fin').'6 However, Hall fails to this period in general: only rarely do we Flemish/French corruption of the name
mention that the painter's name is trans- find a northern renaissance portrait that 'Hernoulle Fin' back into its original Ital-
lated into the vernacular in some did not originally have a cover of some ian, Arnolfini. Pinpointing which
inventories as well ('done by Juanes de kind. 's Moreover, the undecorated reverse Arnolfini has proved to be more of a
Hec, in the year 1434'; 'Juan de Encinas, of the Arnolfini panel suggests that it was challenge. Until very recently, it had been
inventor of oil painting'), despite his sig- created as the centrepiece of a triptych. universally assumed, following We ale in
nature's prominent position in the middle Van Eyck's extant single-panel portraits 1861, that the couple were Giovanni di
of the painting itself ('Johannes de Eyck are all decorated on the reverse, whereas Arrigo Arnolfini and his wife Jeanne
fuit hic 1434'). Furthermore, the 1516 the central panels of his surviving trip- Cenami. This Arnolfini was the most
inventory reads: 'a large picture which is tychs are not. Furthermore, Angelica prominent member of an important Luc-
called Hernoul Ie Fin with his wife in a Diilberg has noted that quotations from chese family resident in Bruges in the
chamber'. If it was 'called' something, Ovid appear frequently on portraits dat- fifteenth century, but - as Lorne Camp-
then there was likely to be an inscription ing from the fifteenth and sixteenth bell has now proved - the portrait cannot
on the frame; assigning titles was not centuries.'9 Sayings by this Roman author be of Giovanni di Arrigo, since he only
common in this period and seem most were popular because of the way they married in 1447, thirteen years after it
likely to have been derived from words juxtaposed life's pleasures with death and was painted and six years after Jan van
inscribed by the painter himself. this-worldliness with the transience of Eyck's death.'2
We learn from Quelviz around 1600 existence. 2o There were no less than five Arnolfini in
that 'there was much writing and also 'The very same conduct which Ovid Bruges at the time who could have com-
this' - the couplet from Ovid's Ars amato- ironically recommends', wrote C.S. Lewis, missioned the painting. Campbell identifies
ria. While the possibility has recently 'could be recommended seriously by the the man as Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini,
been rejected out of hand, I would like to courtly tradition ... The contrast inevitably the elder of the two Giovanni Amolfinis liv-
suggest that Van Eyck himself inscribed raises in our minds a question as to how ing in Bruges during Van Eyck's lifetime.
the frame in this way, following his usual far the whole tone of medieval love poetry While there is no trace of Giovanni di Arri-
practice.17 The inventory of c. 1700 can be explained by the formula, "Ovid go in the Bruges archives until 1435,23
referred to above describes 'its wooden Misunderstood" .'21 Perhaps this is equally Giovanni di Nicolao had lived in Bruges
frame gilded with unburnished gold', true of the mysterious Ovidian text that since 1419 or earlier, and would have had
which corresponds to the way Van Eyck used to decorate the frame. Or was there every opportunity to become acquainted
also decorated his supposed Self-portrait another reason for the tone of the inscrip- with Jan van Eyck well before 1434. Gio-
(Fig. 4) and notes 'some verses from Ovid tion? The text may have been much vanni di Nicolao was married in 1426 to
written on the frame of the picture .. . the longer, since one of the inventories specif- Costanza Trenta, who like him came from a
doors are of wood painted with mar- ically states that 'there is much writing prominent family from Lucca." They had
bling.' It is likely that a gilded frame, as and also this ... ' One can only imagine been betrothed on 23 January 1426, when
well as shutters painted to simulate mar- what else might have been gleaned from Costanza was thirteen,25 which means she
ble, belonged to the work from the the frame. would have been twenty-one when the
beginning, since such features are entirely In 1857, Crowe and Cavalcascelle rec- painting was executed. It finally looked as if
characteristic of panels painted by Jan van ognized the London Double portrait as the Campbell had hit upon the perfect match.
Eyck (see Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 13). Indeed, their one described in Margaret of Austria's But then a further archival discovery was
inclusion was common artistic practice in inventory, and translated the made: a document proved that Costanza
5
6 Holy Family by Petrus Christus (c. 1410-75/76),
c. 1470. Oil on panel, 69.5 x 50.8 cm. Nelson-
Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
7 Man and woman holding hands in an interior 8 Two corpses (reverse of Fig. 7). Aloisiuskolleg,
was dead by 1433, the year before Van Eyck (Double portrait?) by the Master of the Aachen Bad Godesberg, on loa n to Rheinisches Lan -
Panels of the Virgin, c. 1470. Oil on panel, 88 x desmuseum, Bonn
dated his picture. 55 cm. Aloisiuskolleg, Bad Godesberg, on loan to
Costanza's mother, Bartolomea, was Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn
the daughter of Giovanni di Amerigo
Cavalcanti, a Florentine of considerable posthumous representation of Costanza, extension - an oath associated with such a
stature. In 1416, Bartolomea's sister was the only wife of Giovanni di Nicolao of promise or agreement. 28
married to Lorenzo de'Medici, the brother whose existence we find any evidence.
of Cosimo il Vecchio. It is thanks to this If we first of all consider various In other words, the oath gesture
family connection that we learn of the fate details in the picture that have particu - Arnolfini makes may be a reference to an
of her daughter. On 26 February 1433, larly attracted the attention of scholars, oath already taken, or perhaps an oath
Bartolomea writes from Lucca to Lorenzo as well as some that have been previous - that serves to renew a promise made at
de'Medici to congratulate them on the ly overlooked, we find they make far some point in the past.
birth of their son, and in the course of a more sense within the context of a However, Hall's conclusion that the two
discussion of her children, she mentions posthumous portrait of Costanza and are shown at their betrothal ceremony
that her daughter Costanza is no longer her living husband. should be questioned for several reasons.
alive: 'solamente ne viveno due, Paulo e A consistent focal point of much of the Klapisch-Zuber has shown that in Tuscan
Johi. Morio la Costanza e Lionardo. Paulo literature on the work is the man's raised families in this period, the betrothal
si trova in Avignone .. .Johanni e a hand. Is he shown taking a marriage or process usually did not include the bride -
lucha ... '26 Reaching what appeared to be betrothal oath, as Panofsky, Hall and oth- to-be but only the men of the family. 29
another impasse, Campbell finally con- ers would have it, or is he merely greeting Furthermore, the rites of marriage and/or
cluded that: 'If Hernoul Ie Fin is rightly the two gentlemen who enter the room, betrothal were not as straightforward as
interpreted as Arnolfini, then van Eyck's as Campbell contends? This brings us either Panofsky or Hall claim; they did not
couple may be tentatively identified as back to the grain of truth on which Panof- follow a strict, predictable or recognisable
Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his sky based his interpretation. The term protocol. 30 Finally, it seems worth noting
putative second wife.'" fides does indeed exist in the context of that in the majority of images of weddings
I believe Lome Campbell is correct that oath-taking ceremonies. As Hall reminds of this period, the bride's hair is worn
this is Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini. his readers: long, in the manner of a virgin,31 not as
Moreover, I agree with him that this is no the woman wears it in Van Eyck's Double
picture of a betrothal ceremony, nor In other respects the basic meaning of fides portrait. In the Seven Sacraments Altarpiece
indeed of a wedding. But is it a straight- remained unchanged: to 'faithfulness: 'hon- by Rogier van der Weyden and his work-
forward portrait of two wealthy people, as esty: and 'promise', which are among the shop, the sacrament of marriage is
he contends? More crucially, is he correct primary connotations of the word, Roman law represented by a woman taking her mar-
in assuming that this is a second wife, of had added the idea of an honest keeping of a riage vows, with long hair similar to that
whom we have no record, and with promise or the obligations consequent to an found in images of the Virgin Mary (Fig.
whom there were no recorded children? agreement - essentially what Augustine meant 17). In the rite of baptism, a pair of
What happens if we look at the portrait in when he termed fides one of three' goods' of matrons have their hair pinned up, under
an altogether different way? What if it is Christian marriage. Fides, in a somewhat a veil, in much the same fashion as Signo-
of the deceased Costanza? It is my con- broader medieval usage, meant not only a ra Arnolfini (Fig. 18). In my view, what is
tention that Van Eyck's picture is a solemn promise to do something, but - by depicted is a reference to the couple's
6
10 Man and woman in a garden, Cologne School,
11 Two corpses (revers e of Fig. 10). Musee de
c. 1470-80. Oil on panel, 64.7 x 39.5 em. I'Oeuvre Notre-Dame, Strasbourg
9 Tomb of Sir Edward Ceme (d. 1393) and Elyne,
© The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2003. Delia E.
Lady Ceme, no date. Brass. Draycott Cerne
and L.E. Holden Funds, 1932.179
Church, Wiltshire
7
to leave her clothes behind in the event of
remarriage is often mentioned in wills.
Furs were a common wedding gift from
the husband, and were subsequently
worn on important occasions. 38 The enor-
mous train on the lady's dress resembles
what a royal personage, such as Van
Eyck's St Catherine of Alexandria (who
according to legend was a princess, and is
portrayed as one) in the right wing of the
Dresden Triptych (Fig. 5), would wear.
In the long history of responses to the
London picture, there has been a general
tendency among those who view it for the
first time to assume the lady in it is preg-
nant. Those who know Van Eyck's whole
oeuvre well tend to believe otherwise -
that it was simply the fashion to wear this
style of clothing and that her attire should
not preclude her from being seen as a vir-
gin bride. Van Eyck's St Catherine (Fig. 5)
again comes to our aid here, since she
betrays the same bulge around the belly.
But whether literally pregnant or not, the
13 Virgin afCanan van der Paele by Jan van Eyck (c. 1395-1441), 1436. Oil on pane!, 122 x 157 cm.
Groeningemuseum, Bruges fashion for accentuating the womb itself
relates to women's duty to bear children
and to a physique that makes this possible.
The colours worn by the Arnolfini are
likely to carry significance - something
hitherto ignored by scholarship. Signora
Arnolfini wears vivid green wool with the
whitest white ermine. Her underdress is
blue, and is also trimmed with white fur.
Her husband, on the other hand, wears
sombre tones of deep purple and black.
Huizinga had a great deal to say about the
colour symbolism of clothing in his
Autumn of the Middle Ages, not least in an
eloquent passage relevant to the colours
worn by Arnolfini and his wife:
8
the symbolism of love. Deschamps says of a family histories known as Ricordanze
group of suitors: 'Some dress themselves for (memoirs). Rather than relying on memo-
her in green/the other blue, another in ry or hearsay, the head of the family
white.lAnother in vermillion like blood,lAnd might cite notarised contracts, account
he who desires her most/Because of his great books, and affidavits as supporting evi-
sorrow dresses in bJack.' But green was espe - dence. They were careful to leave accurate
cially the color of young, hopeful Minne: 'You information about themselves and their
will have to dress in green/It is the livery of children: age, name of godfather, hour
those in 10ve.'39 and day of birth, and so on. Alberti was
the first to recommend this practice.
The work was painted before black cloth- Another act of remembrance was the
ing became de rigueur at the Burgundian commissioning of detailed, lifelike, and
court. Philip the Good, Duke of Bur- convincing portraits of their ancestors. 45
gundy, wore black and created the fashion Yet the commemoration of women - dead
for it (Fig. 19).40 But 1434 was the time of or alive - was rare, and may contribute to
15 Virgin of Chancellor Rolin by Jan van Eyck (c.
his father, and in paintings by Jan van 1395-1441), c. 1434-36. Oil on panel, 66 x 62 cm.
our confusion regarding the true purpose
Eyck, or indeed any paintings from Musee du Louvre, Paris. Photo: RMN/Herve of this image.
around that date, one is hard pressed to Lewandowski Klapisch-Zuber explained the limited
find other examples of men dressed with role of women within family heritage dur-
such extreme sobriety. Our interpretation ing this period:
of Arnolfini's clothing may draw once
again on Huizinga: Women, then, were not permanent elements
in the lineage. Memory of them was short. An
The dressing of sentiment in the garb of a sug- important woman, a benefactress for her kin,
gestive form reaches its highest development in for example, would eventually be known under
mourning. There were unlimited possibilities her own name and brought to people's atten-
for a splendid exaggeration of sorrow, the tion; but the family chronicler or the amateur
counterpart of the hyperbolic expressions of joy genealogist would feel obliged to explain why,
during the grandiose court festivities ... Court since the process fit so poorly within their defi-
mourning during Burgundian times can only be nition of kinship ... The family chroniclers keep
understood if viewed in relation to elegy. The the memory of an alliance with a certain lin-
displays of mourning demonstrated in beautiful eage, but forget, a few generations after the
form how totally powerless the affected individ- marriage, the given name of the woman on
ua is in the face of suffering. The higher the whom the alliance was built. 46
rank the more heroic the display of pain. The
Queen of France had to stay an entire year in This suggests that the purpose of the Dou-
the room where she was told of the death of ble portrait may in part have been to
her husband.41 display an advantageous marriage to pos-
16 Epitaph of Conrad von Busang (?) by Nikolaus terity, whether or not the bride was still
Like birth and marriage, death had its Gerhaert von Leyden (active c. 1462-73), 1464. living at the time of the portrait, and
Strasbourg Cathedral. © Foto Marburg/Art
own set of rules. The corpse was moved Resource, New York ~ whether or not her name was included in
from the private bedchamber to the tomb the artist's inscription.
in a public procession not unlike that at a dian court. Most of the Italians who came On the other hand, this is not to sug-
wedding, with the family marching in to live and work in Bruges and other gest that within the profane display of
hierarchical order. This was the last public important trading cities in the north were courtly culture, there was no place for the
spectacle associated with the deceased. of the merchant class, and some of them - sacred. In describing the beau ideal of
Also public were the signs of mourning. 42 like the Arnolfini - possessed significant manhood, many medieval authors cele-
One's marriage was an aspect of life espe- wealth. While living abroad, they proba- brate a hybrid of secular and chivalric
cially put on display at the moment of bly came under the influence of their qualities. When aiming for this ideal,
death, as either - in Dominique Bathele- adopted society in many ways, but certain goodness does not mean aestheticism,
my's words - a 'revelation of life's most local customs must presumably have nor does knighthood mean adultery.47 As
essential relationship at a time when accompanied them from home. Arnolfi- Lewis wrote: 'The Ovidian tradition, oper-
falsehood was out of the question, or a ni's choice of a fellow Lucchese as his wife ated upon by the medieval taste for
final opportunity to shape an image of the suggests as much, and it is therefore humorous blasphemy, is apparently quite
ideal.'" A certain Baldwin II, a count who appropriate to consult Tuscan sources for sufficient to produce a love religion, and
died in 1169, may have had many extra- many aspects of their lives, especially in even in a sense a Christianized love reli-
marital lovers, yet 'nevertheless, he connection with marriage and family, gion, without any aid from the new
suffered greatly when his legitimate whereas Burgundian culture is more likely seriousness of romantic passion.'" In
wife ... died in childbirth. In every way he to be relevant for their daily life together short, 'Love is, in saeculo, what God is, in
seemed distressed and inconsolable.'" in Bruges. eternity.'"
Arnolfini came from one of the most Individual members of prominent fif- The Arnolfini of Lucca, who spent their
prominent Italian families at the Burgun- teenth-century Tuscan families often kept adult lives at the court of Burgundy,
9
19 Dedication page of Les Chroniques de Hainaut
attributed to Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1399 -
1464), 1448, translated by Jean Wauquelin.
Bibliotheque Royale de Belgique, Brussels, MS
9242, vo!' I, fo!' 1r
10
21 Effigy of Margaret of Austria 'au vi/', by Conrad Meit (active 1506-50), 1526. Alabaster.
Church of St Nicholas of Tolentino, Brou (Bourge-en -Bresse).
© Erich Lessing/Art Resource, New York
dogs served to express 'the mutual affec- interested in the conventions observed when
tion of husband and wife in a happy ladies of various ranks were lying in 6 '
marriage.'65 A case in point is the Count
and Countess of Henneberg Tomb by Peter Alienor de Poitiers observes that:
Vischer (Fig. 20) . The meaning of the dog
mayor may not be linked to fidelity - the ... a noblewoman below th e rank of countess
real point here is that a common type of normally placed only one carpet in front of her
female tomb effigy in this period includes bed when she was giving birth; only a lady of
a full-length portrait of the deceased with the highest rank was permitted to carpet the
a small dog at her feet. It may be signifi- entire floor of her lying-in chamber. 70
cant that a dog appears in many effigies
au vif - as in life - but not in effigies en Given that Costanza Arnolfini died
transi. Rather than being a sign of fidelity, childless around the age of twenty, it is
perhaps the dog's role is to accompany not unreasonable to wonder whether she
the dead in eternity, like the angels that did not die in childbirth. This might
20 Tomb of Count and Countess of Henneberg by
Peter Vischer, c. ?1530s. Marienkirche, Romhild. also sometimes appear with tomb effigies explain why the floor is decorated in the
© Bildarchiv foto Marburg (for instance, on the tomb of Philip the way it is. As Campbell further notes: 'Bare
Bold at the Chartreuse de Champmol).66 wooden boards such as these are not
What of the bed, which Campbell reads often found in representations of interi-
epitaph (Fig. 16), and - I would argue - simply as relatively expensive furniture?67 ors, where floors are usually tiled or inlaid
the Double portrait, here too the artist Beds depicted in rooms of state, birth with semi-precious stones. m The carpet
allows us to behold the earthly presence scenes, and even Virgin and Child images beside the bed indicates a chamber deco-
of a living individual together with an may in some cases have had a neutral rated for Costanza's lying in; its bare floor
apparition that appears to that individual function - the expression of the social indicates a measure of austerity appropri-
in his mind's eye, as it were. Many epi- standing of the inhabitants of the house ate to her station.
taphs made at this time in the in question. But surely the portrayal of a From Alienor we also learn that two sil-
Netherlands have the same fundamental man and woman clasping hands in such a ver candlesticks were kept on the dresser
structure. They show what the depicted room signifies something more. in the lying in chamber of a lady; in the
person wishes he could see tangibly Netherlandish images of this period candlesticks 'there must be two large wax
before him, but they also reveal the fact depicting hung beds in use typically candles, to be lighted when someone
that it is only an illusion. show a birth, as in the Birth of St John the comes to the chamber', day or night. 72
Seen in these terms, Van Eyck's Double Baptist from the Turin-Milan Hours (Fig. Similarly, Huizinga reports that two large
portrait climaxes in the vision of the 22), or a death, as in the Office of the Dead candles in silver holders burned continu-
deceased lady. It is completely orchestrated miniature in the Spinola Hours (Fig. 23). ously in the lying in room of Isabella of
around that basic idea, from the difference In the ritual practices of the period, when Bourbon, where the shutters were kept
in the treatment of light - she is bathed in visitors were received into the home, closed for fourteen days.73 'Next to
a kind of ethereal whiteness, while he they were brought to the principal cham- mourning', Huizinga writes, 'confinement
stands in comparative shadow - to the ber of the house where the new mother, during childbirth offered ample opportu-
inventory of objects that surround the two. the dying, or the recently deceased were nities for serious pomp and hierarchical
Panofsky argued that the dog in the to be found lying in state on a hung distinctions of ostentation. n4
foreground at the lady's feet, 'seen on so bed. 68 In his remarkably thorough study The brass chandelier has long been
many tombs of ladies, was an accepted of the Double portrait, Campbell draws considered particularly mysterious. Why
emblem of marital faith', while Hall and attention to a contemporary source that light a candle in the daytime (Fig. 2S)?
Campbell, in contrast, each found the sheds light on the possible use of the And why only one? There are several
Arnolfini dog to be devoid of symbolic room depicted, observing: religious paintings of the period with
significance. 64 Yet the dog is surely anoth- candles seemingly unnecessarily lit; pic-
er link to death imagery. In ancient It is difficult to find out about contemporary con - tures with a lit candle in the daytime are
funerary monuments and medieval tomb ventions and etiquette, but one invaluable source also often those in which a lying in
effigies, of which the tomb of Margaret of is Les Honneurs de La Cour, written between 1484 chamber is depicted, such as the Virgin
Austria (Fig. 21) - the owner of the Double and 1491 by Alienor de Poitiers, the widowed and Child now attributed to Jaques Daret
portrait - is a characteristic example, such Viscountess of Veurne ... She was particularly in the National Gallery, or countless
11
scenes of the Nativity with Joseph hold- tion.'9 In a division that echoes that of the
ing a lit candle. candles, the scenes of Christ living are on
An observant viewer of the Double por- the left - Giovanni di Nicolao's side - and
trait will discern the remains of a the scenes of his death and resurrection are
burnt-out candle in the front right sconce. on the right - Costanza's domain.
This was recently pointed out by Camp- In art of the period, mirrors like that of
bell, but has not as a rule been noticed by the Arnolfini are also sometimes identified
scholars.'s If one takes the view that the as mirrors of death - a further element in
portrait of Signora Arnolfini is posthu- the repertoire of memento mori. The idea
mous, then the lit candle as opposed to here is that mirrors tell the truth about life
the burned -out one refers to the couple, - in the mirror we are nothing but this
the lit candle on the side of the living, the transient being (Fig. 24). A small double -
extinguished one on the side of the sided triptych by Memling includes a skull
deceased. I do not believe it is sufficient to on one panel, another panel with the fig-
call the single lit candle 'nothing more ure of Death, and a third with an image of
than good bourgeois thriftiness." 6 Vanity holding a mirror, a small dog at her
Petrus Christus's Holy Family (Fig. 6) feet. 80 Here we find a neat summary of
includes a chair that is clearly part of the some of the major themes at work in Van
bed construction, as seems also to be the Eyck's Double portrait. The reason Vanity
case in the London panel. The chair in the holds a mirror in Memling's picture is not
background of the Double portrait is deco- only that she is pleased with her own self-
22 Birth of St John the Baptist and Baptism of Christ
rated with carved figures . Rather than the by Jan van Eyck (c. 1395 -1441), c. 1420s. Turin- image, but also that it is vain to believe
more typical lions found in Christus's Milan Hours, fo1.93.v. Museo Civico, Turin. © Art beauty will last. In a similar way, Rogier
Resource, New York van der Weyden's Braque Triptych in the
image, it is adorned with a figure of a very
different sort. St Margaret, the patron Louvre is a combination of admonition
saint of pregnant women, is usually and epitaph: the skull refers to Adam and
shown having emerged unscathed from original sin as well as the recently
the belly of a dragon, standing over its deceased Braque himself for whom the
carcass, triumphant. 77 Here instead she is work was commissioned, warning the
shown standing, or possibly kneeling, viewer of the inevitability of death.81
behind her attribute, with her hands In signing his name just above the mir-
clasped in prayer - an extraordinarily rare ror, the artist may have included himself
pose for this saint (Fig. 25). in this symbolic constellation, as part of
A more menacing indication of the the play of presence and absence operat-
painting's true subject may be found ing throughout the picture. On another
below the mirror, on the wooden bench level, 'Johannes van Eyck fuit hic' may be
(Fig. 25). To quote Campbell once more: an assertion of the veracity of his painted
representation, like his inscription on the
On the arm is a carving of a monster with a Leal Souvenir (Loyal Remembrance) por-
grimacing human face, lion's ears and hoofs trait in London (Fig. 26)/' which was itself
instead of hands: he wears a hat and a bib and most likely a posthumous memento or
is seated back to back with what is either a secular epitaph, too. It was signed: 'Trans-
carved lion or another, similar monster. Bench- acted on the 10th day of October in the
es were often decorated with carved lions; the year of our Lord 1432 by Jan van Eyck' -
grotesque is perhaps less usual." language far more explicit in its associa-
23 Office of the Dead by Gerard Horenbout tion with legal documents. 83 This seems to
(71465-1541)/the Master of James N of Scotland,
Within the context of an apparently nor- suggest that the painter was attesting to
c.1515.
mal, everyday setting, Van Eyck provided Spinola Hours, Ghent and Bruges, MS IX 18 the truth of the likeness.
his contemporary viewers with enough (83.ML.114), fols. 184v-185. A few key aspects of the earlier stages
information to allow them to recognise the Tempera and gold paint on parchment. of work revealed by infrared reflectogra-
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
conditions of Arnolfini's loss. The grimac- phy support the view that Van Eyck was
ing face of the monster hovers just above working to accentuate the death of
the touching hands of the Arnolfini, sym- sion of Christ - or so we are often told. To Costanza, suggesting that she either died
bolically threatening their union. All of be more precise, there are eight scenes of in the process of the painting's creation or
these unusual features follow a clear logic the Passion plus two scenes showing that - determined to create a work of
when the painting is viewed in light of the Christ's life after his death. Beginning at the great Significance and complexity - he
hypothesis that this is a painting in mem- bottom and moving clockwise, we have the elaborated his message in the course of its
ory of Costanza Arnolfini after her death. Agony in the Garden, the Arrest of Christ, execution, necessitating changes to the
The convex mirror (Fig. 25), concerning Christ before Pilate, the Flagellation, Christ programme. No underdrawing can be
which more must have been written than Carrying the Cross, the Crucifixion, the found for the dog or the chandelier. The
about almost any other mirror in the history Descent from the Cross, the Entombment, mirror was larger and originally octago-
of art, has ten roundels depicting the Pas- the Harrowing of Hell and the Resurrec- nal. Perhaps the eight-sided mirror was
12
24 Portrait of the artist Hans Burgkmair the Elder
and his wife Anna by Lucas Furtenagel (b. 1505),
1527. Oil on panel, 60 x 52 cm. Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna
tle impact on the non-specialist readership. See, for Van Eyck's Double Portrait, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Lon- • Ibid., p. 174.
example, 1. Benjamin, 'Disguised Symbolism Exposed don, 1994. ' Ibid., p. 174.
and the History of Early Netherlandish Painting', Studies , 'Een trauwinghe van eenen man ende vrauwe/die van "Ibid., p. 176.
in Iconography, vol. II, 1976, pp. 11-24; J.B. Bedaux, 'The Fides ghetrauwt worden'; quoted in 1. Campbell, H Campbell, op. cit., Book I, lines 443-44:
Reality of Symbols: the Question of Disguised Symbol- National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Nether- Promittas facito, quid enim promittere laedit?
ism in Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait', Simiolus, vol. landish Schools, London, 1998, p. 198. Pollicitis diues quilibet esse potest
XVI, 1986, pp. 5-28; 1. Seidel, 'Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini 'Ibid., op. cit., p. 198. ('See that you promise: what harm is there in promises?
Portrait: Business as Usual?', Critical Inquiry, vol. XVI, ' Panofsky, op. cit., p. 123. In promises anyone can be rich') Ibid., p. 176.
Autumn 1989, pp. 55-86; M. Carroll, 'In the Name of 6 As pointed out in Bedaux, op. cit., pp. 7-8. " Ibid., p. 176. In a recent lecture on titles (Courtauld
God and Profit: Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait', Repre- 7 The following inventory excerpts are all taken from the Institute, 19 May 2003), David Ekserdjian made the perti-
sentations, vol. XLN, 1993, pp. 96-132; and E. Hall, The painstakingly researched catalogue entry in Campbell, nent observation that as a rule the less an inventory-taker
Arnolfini Betrothal: Mediroal Marriage and the Enigma of op. cit., pp. 174-211. knew, the more verbose the description tended to be.
13
n A vam measures 84 cm; Campbell, op. cit., p. 176. is known only from photographs of the back of the
These are the correct dimensions, so it would seem likely paint layer, taken when the Virgin was removed from its
the compiler of the inventory had the picture before support.' See also Buchn er, op. cit., pp. 173- 75, 219,
him. plate 196; Alfred Stange, Kritisches Verzeichnis der
" Ibid., p. 176. deutschen Tafelbilder vor Diirer, Munich, 1967, vol. I, p.
" Ibid, p. 192. 77, no. 230: 'Hochzeitsbildnis ... Vorderseite: Brautpaar.
" Hall, op. cit., p. 4. Ri.ickseite: Gestalt des Todes.'
" Campbell, op. cit., p. 198, was the first to publish an 55 Di.ilberg, op. cit., p. 251, no. 216, plate 127, for yet
opinion on the Ovid inscription, and believes it was another exa mple, by a North German Master, c. 1500
added later, partly because it is not mentioned in any of (Evangeli sche -Luth eranische Kirchengemeinde, Lau-
the earlier descriptions of the picture. Hall did not know renberg an der Elbe). There are oth er double portraits
the lines of Ovid, only that the protagonists were said to which were designed more as emblems of loss than of
be 'deceiving each other'. He believed that a marbled marriage: one such is a half-length portrait of Ladislaus
frame sounded right for Van Eyck, but that the satirical v (1440-57), King of Hungary and Bohemia, and Mag-
nature of the inscription did not seem appropriate; see dalena, daughter of Charles VII of France. A later copy,
respectively Hall, op. cit., p. 137, note 9, and p. 6. now in Budapest, shows them as bride and groom.
" See A. Diilberg, Privatportriits: Geschichte und lkonolo- Ladislaus died suddenly, on 23 November 1457, just
gie einer Gattung im 15. ulld 16. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1990, before their wedding.
plates 61,186,189. 56 E. Buchne r, Das Deutsche Bildnis der Spiitgotik und der
" For a thorough study of renaissance portrait formats frUhen Diirerzeit, Berlin, 1953, fig. 202 .
and covers, as well as iconography, see ibid. " Di.ilberg, op. cit., pp. 153-63.
20 Ibid., p. 153. " K. Cohen, Metamorphosis of a Death Symbol: the Transi
" C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love: A Study ill Medieval Tomb in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Berke-
Tradition, New York, Oxford, 1958, pp. 7, 8, where, in a ley, 1973, p. 44.
passage on the mocking tone of the Ars amatoria, Lewis " Di.ilberg, op. cit., p. 154.
wrote: 'this is a pretty instance of the vast change which 60 For a th orough study of these tombs, see Cohen, op.
occurred during the middle ages ... But then one would cit.
have to acknowledge that it was a very consistent mis- 'I E. Panofsky, Tomb Sculpture: Its Changing Aspects from
understanding . Ancient Egypt to Bernini, New York, 1992 (lectures given
u Campbell, op . cit., p. 193. in 1956), p. 55.
23 Ibid., p. 195. The documentary evidence from that 62 Hall, op. cit., p. 46; see also p. 10, fig. 3.
date, which is relatively substantial, gives no indication 63 Panofsky, op. cit. in n. 61 above, p. 58, figs. 230, 232.
that he had previously been married. He had no chil- M Hall, op. cit., p. 114; Campbell, op. cit., p. 189: The
dren except two illegitimate ones - his money went to dog - which resembles a Brussels griffon - was clearly a
jeanne Cenami and then to the family in Lucca. family pet.
" For a succinct account of the Trenta family'S patronage 6S Hall, op. cit., p. 10. For Margaret of Austria's tomb,
of jacopo della Quercia in Lucca, see j. Turner (ed.), The see Cohen, op. cit., figs. 75- 77; Panofsky, op. cit. in n. 61
Dictionary of Art, 34 vols., London, 1996, vol. XVI, pp. 26 Leal souvenir or 'Timotheus' by Jan van Eyek (c. above, figs. 342-45.
841-42 (entry by E.M. Richter). '" See Cohen, op. cit., p. 45. There may also be a link to
25 Campbell, op. cit., p. 195. The dowry was 800 florins
1395-1441),1432. Oil on panel, 33.3 x 18.9 em. ©
later double portrai ts with a dog at the foo t of the
or more, at th e discretion of her grandfather, since her The National Gallery
woman, such as Tobias Stimmer's full -length individual
father was dead; this was an average amount for some- panels of Pannerherr jacob Schwytzer von Zurich and
one at her level of society, even on the small side if it Elizabeth Lochmann of 1564, in the Offentliche Kunst-
was only 800; see C. Klapisch-Zuber, Women, Family, sammlung, Basel (for an illustration, see M. Bendel,
and Ritual in Renaissance Italy, translated by L. Tobias Stimmer: Leben und Werke, Zurich and Berlin,
Cochraine, Chicago, 1985, pp. 220-2l. 1940, pp. 166-67, figs. 2-3.
26 'Only two are living, Paulo and johi. Costanza and
67 Campbell, op. cit., p. 190.
Lionardo died. Paulo is in Avignon . johanni is in Lucca.' 6S Hall, op . cit., p. 87.
Florence, Archivio di Stato, Mediceo avanti il principato, 69 Campbell, op. cit., p. 187, who adds: 'Her mother
xxl40; letter dated Lucca 26 February 1432/33 . First cited Isabel de Sousa had been Lady in Waiting to Isabella of
in Campbell, op. cit., p. 194, note 178, p. 208. Portuga l, Duchess of Burgundy, a nd Al ienor had
27 Ibid., p. 198.
resided with her mother at the Burgundian court.'
" Hall, op. cit., p. 65. ;0 Ibid., p. 187.
29 Klapisch -Zuber, op. cit., p. 183.
n Ibid., p. 186.
'" Ibid., p. 190. n Ibid., p. 200.
" G. Duby (ed.), A History of Private Life: II Revelations of 73 Huizinga, op. cit., p. 58.
the Medieval World, Cambridge, MA, and London, 1988, n Ibid., p. 57.
p. 126; see also Hall, op. cit., plates 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, for sev- " Campbell, op. cit., p. 187.
eral examples of marriage scenes depicting brides with 76 Hall, op. cit., p. 117.
long hair. n A case in point is the representation of St Margaret on
32 j. Huizinga, The Autumn of the Middle Ages, Chicago,
the right wing of by Hugo van der Goes's Portinari
1996, pp. 101-102.
Altarpiece.
" Campbell, op. cit., p. 191. To cite another example of
78 Campbell, op . cit., pp. 186-87.
spatial distortion, in Van Eyck's Virgin in a Church in
" Ibid., p. 188, 'Often described so mewhat inaccurately
Berlin, the Virgin stands as high as the clerestory of the
as a Passion cycle, the ten miniscule medallions embell -
nave.
ishing the frame include as well th e Harrowing of Hell
" C. Wilson, seminar lecture, Courtauld Institute of Art,
Spring 1992, instancing among other works the Wash - and the Resurrection, and thus the imagery really epito-
ington Annunciation. mizes the central Christian mystery of Christ's triumph
35 Duby, op. cit., p. 194.
over sin and death'. See also Hall, op. cit., p. 122.
80 For Memlings Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine
3<> Ibid., p. 195.
" Ibid., p. 82. Salvation, (c. 1435), see Dirk de Vos, Hans Memling, exh.
" Klapisch-Zuber, op. cit., pp. 220-21, 225, 230, 279. ca t., Stedelijke Museum, Bruges, 1994, pp. 112-15, no.
" Huizinga, op. cit., p. 326, and p. 19, for the practice of 26.
dressing in colours to show political allegiance. " For Rogier van der Weyden's, Triptych of Jean Braque
., See also Hall, op. cit., plate 11, for Jean Mielot present- (c. 1452-53), see Dirk de Vos, Rogier van der Weyden: The
ing his translation of the Traite sur l'oraison dominicale to Complete Works, Antwerp, 1999, pp. 268-53, no. 19.
Philip the Good, c. 1457, Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale 82 Campbell, op. cit., p. 201.
" Huizinga, op. cit., p. 53, 56; see also p. 55, for a discus- M Campbell, op. cit., p. 201 .
14