Notes (09/09)

Jan van Eyck

• Double portrait - Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, Giovanna Cenami, 1434

  • Wedding portrait. Visual wedding license bc there were no set ritual for weddings

  • Betrothal / engagement ??

  • Arnolfini - wealthy banker, arranged marriage to Cenami while traveling across the north

  • Wife w/ veil, pregnant?, dog, hands holding, Arnolfini taking a vow w/ his other hand, wedding dress, shoes off for both of them, one lit candle (presence of God), fruit on windowsill

  • Cloak shows off his wealth, garments under wife’s dress to make it seem like she was pregnant, silk bed so probably in the living room, mirror w/ crosses, rosary beads, man in blue man in red turban displayed in mirror reflection

  • “Jan van Eyck was here” (Johannes)

  • Cenami’s expression - looking away from the viewer, serious expression, no eyebrows or eyelashes

• Chancellor (clergy) w/ Madonna & Child

  • Christ blessing Chancellor as Mary is crowned as Queen of Heaven(?)

  • display of wealth

Rogier van der Weyden

• Probably a student of Jan van Eyck

• Deposition

  • commissioned by the crossbowmens(?) guild

  • Cramped, dramatic, barely any background, little negative space between figures

• Last Judgement Altarpiece

  • Donors, statues (closed)

  • (open) lucky souls going to heaven, the judgement, poor souls going to hell

• Crucifixtionwith the Virgin and St. John (1460)

• St. Luke Drawing the Virgin (1435)

  • Idealized portrait of the Virgin (pale, highlighted)

  • Silver point - wood/metal tube w/ clamp on the end w/ a soft silver piece in it. grinding silver into parchment