arnolfini
A detailed Summary of arnolfini
An essay written by a renowned art historian, Erwin Panofsky, discusses the controversy
over a famous painting. The disputation was over the identification of the two people portrayed
in the painting. The painting was a portrait thought to be Giovanni Arnofili and his wife, and the
artist was Jan van Eyck. Panofsky wrote this essay to prove that this painting found in 1815,
which he refers to as the "London portrait", is identical to a picture which was once acquired by
Queen Mary of Hungary, among others. The "Hapsburg painting", referring to the one owned by
the Queen, was lost in 1789. In my essay, I will show the proof given by Panofsky that the two
By tracing the provenance of the paintings, Panofsky validates his theory that the two may
very well be just one. The theory that the two paintings are but one has been named the
"Orthodox Theory". Since the Hapsburg painting was lost in 1789 and the London portrait
wasn't discovered until 1815, it is more than possible that the two paintings are the same. The
gap in time between the loss of one and discovery of the other painting is thought by Panofsky

The description of the Hapsburg painting given by Vermander was almost exact to that of
Panofsky's essay holds much evidence to support the Orthodox Theory. For instance, the
third person in the London painting. Panofsky, being a commendable art historian, questioned
joining hands with a mirror reflecting them from behind. That description is identical to the
adding his own words of a painting he'd never seen. This should make it clear that it is extremely
himself had never even seen the painting, nor ever spoke of it before in any of his other writings.
the hands, and both lack a priest. Panofsky compared these paintings to show that this
Another reason disagreement took place over the painting was because of a man who
confirmed that a painting was in fact just one painting when for a long time it was doubted and
up entire new meanings for paintings that use iconography.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Italy Panofsky, Orthodox Theory, Queen Mary's, Van Eyck's, Eyck Johannes, Council Trent, Vermander Vermander, Willibald Pirckheimer, Theory Hapsburg, David Michal, van eyck, johannes van, johannes van eyck, hapsburg painting, orthodox theory, van eyck's, london painting, art historian, read johannes, marriage van eyck's, third person, painting painting, inscription read johannes, read johannes van,
Approximate Word count = 1397
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
Category: Arts
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