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Jan van Eyck, 'The Arnolfini Portrait', 1434
About the work
Overview
This must be one of the most famous and intriguing paintings in the world. A richly dressed man and woman stand in a private room. They are probably Giovanni di Nicolao di Arnolfini, an Italian merchant working in Bruges, and his wife.
Although the room is totally plausible – as if Jan van Eyck had simply removed a wall – close examination reveals inconsistencies: there’s not enough space for the chandelier, and no sign of a fireplace. Moreover, every object has been carefully chosen to proclaim the couple’s wealth and social status without risking criticism for aping the aristocracy.
The man’s hand is raised, apparently in greeting. On the back wall, a large convex mirror reflects two men coming into the room, one of whom also raises his arm. Immediately above it is Van Eyck’s signature. Could the man in mirror be van Eyck himself, with his servant, coming on a visit?
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife
- Artist
- Jan van Eyck
- Artist dates
- active 1422; died 1441
- Date made
- 1434
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 82.2 × 60 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated and inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1842
- Inventory number
- NG186
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 15th-century Netherlandish Frame
Provenance
The first recorded owner was Don Diego de Guevara, a Spanish nobleman who was brought up at the Burgundian court, spent most of his life in the Low Countries and died in Brussels in 1520. His coat of arms and device were on the wing panels, mentioned in 1516, 1523–4, 1556–8 and 1700 but subsequently lost. He gave the picture to Margaret of Austria (1480–1530) and it was the first item listed in the inventory of her paintings taken, in her presence, in her palace at Mechlin on 17 July 1516: ‘a large picture which is called Hernoul le Fin with his wife in a chamber, which was given to Madame by Don Diego, whose arms are on the cover of the said picture; done by the painter Johannes.’ In the margin, it was noted ‘it is necessary to put on a lock to close it: which Madame has ordered to be done’. In a later inventory of Margaret’s possessions, taken at Mechlin between 9 July 1523 and 17 April 1524, it was described as ‘another very exquisite picture, which closes with two shutters, where there are painted a man and a woman, standing, touching hands, done by the hand of Johannes, the arms and device of the late Don Diego on the said two shutters, the name of the personage being Arnoult Fin’. It was then in the seconde chambre à chemynée of her Cabinets.
It passed with many of Margaret’s pictures into the collection of her niece Mary of Hungary (1505–58). She left the Low Countries in 1556 and went to Spain, where she died in 1558. In an inventory of her effects taken shortly after her death were listed the paintings that she had brought from the Low Countries, including ‘a large panel, with two doors with which it closes, and in it a man and a woman who take each other’s hands, with a mirror in which the said man and woman are shown, and on the doors the arms of Don Diego de Guevara; done by Juanes de Hec, in the year 1434’. Mary’s paintings passed to her nephew Philip II (1527–98), King of Spain. In the summer of 1599, Jakob Quelviz, who came from Leipzig, visited the Alcázar of Madrid and saw there in the Salle chiqua: ‘an image where a young man and young woman are joining hands as if they are promising future marriage; there is much writing and also this:
Promissas fallito (sic) quid enim promittere laedit
Pollicitis diues quilibet esse potest.
The inscription mistranscribed by Quelviz is from Ovid’s Ars amatoria, Book I, lines 443–4:
promittas facito, quid enim promittere laedit?
pollicitis diues quilibet esse potest
(See that you promise: what harm is there in promises? In promises anyone can be rich.) Though Quelviz did not remark upon the mirror or the signature, he must certainly have been referring to NG 186; the inscription from Ovid was mentioned in the next description known, in the inventory taken after the death of Charles II (1661–1700), King of Spain. The portrait was still in the palace at Madrid and was listed as ‘a picture on panel with two doors that close with its wooden frame gilded with unburnished gold, some verses from Ovid written on the frame of the picture, which is of a pregnant German woman (una Alemana preñada) dressed in green giving her hand to a youth (mozo) and it appears that they are getting married by night and the verses declare how they are deceiving each other and the doors are of wood painted with marbling, valued at 16 doubloons’. In 1794, it was in a Retrete in the Cuarto del Rey in the Palacio Nuevo at Madrid and was described as ‘one vara high by three quarters of a vara wide, a man and a woman holding hands, Juan de Encinas inventor of oil painting, 6000 reals’. A vara is a Spanish yard of 84 cm. The picture is presumed to have left Spain during the Peninsular War.
The next recorded owner was James Hay (died 1854), a Scottish soldier who served with the 16th Light Dragoons in the Peninsular War and was present at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. The Duke of Wellington recalled in 1814: ‘The baggage of King Joseph after the battle of Vitoria fell into my hands, after having been plundered by the soldiers; and I found among it an Imperial containing prints, drawings and pictures.’ The Imperial was part of Joseph Bonaparte’s coach and was found to contain many paintings from the Spanish royal collection. It is possible that James Hay took NG 186 from Joseph Bonaparte’s baggage at Vitoria; or, at any rate, that he obtained it when he was serving in Spain. According to the dealer Chrétien-Jean Nieuwenhuys (1799–1883), writing in 1843, Hay, ‘having been dangerously wounded at Waterloo, was moved to a private house in Brussels and lodged in a room decorated with this picture. During his long convalescence, it attracted his attention several times; he admired it so much that, in the end, he acquired it. He kept it until 1842 ...’. Nieuwenhuys did not disclose how he learned this romantic story but perhaps he had it from Hay himself, who may have tried to sell the picture to Nieuwenhuys and who would have been anxious to impress upon him that he had acquired it by honest means. Hay was certainly at Waterloo (18 June 1815) and was so desperately wounded that he could not be moved from the battlefield for eight days. He was then taken to Brussels to convalesce.
The story that, during his convalescence, he fell in love with the painting does not entirely square with the fact that, immediately after his return to England, he attempted to sell it to the Prince Regent. Sir Thomas Lawrence sent to Carlton House on 10 October 1816 ‘A Painting in a Gilt Frame – Subject Two Portraits Male & Female Joining Hands – the Female Dressed in Green – The Male in Black with a large Round Hat on &c – 33½ Inches by 23¾ by John Van Heyk this Picture is sent for The Regent’s inspection – it was Painted by John Van Heyk – the person who first discovered the art of Painting in Oil Colours – Returnd –’. Included in the inventory taken at Carlton House in December 1816 as ‘Portraits of a man and his wife. John van Eyck’ (measurements given as 2 ft 8 in by 1 ft 11 in), it was in ‘The Middle Attic next the Prince’s BedRoom’. A note in the same inventory recorded that ‘This Picture was returned to Sir T. Lawrence April 25th 1818’. Hay later entrusted it to Dr James Wardrop (1782–1869), who lived in Charles II Street. He noted that it ‘was sent to me by Col. James Hay (Queen’s Bays) to keep for him during his absence. It was hung up between two windows in a Bed-room where it remained, about 13 years, during this period, it was seen by many visitors, none of whom deem’d it worthy of their notice. During the 13 years Col. Hay was absent from London, & I never saw him again until he asked me if it could be convenient for me to send for his picture which he did accordingly. A few weeks afterwards, I saw to my surprise in the British Gallery Exhibition Col. Hay’s picture, & a very short period afterwards Mr Seguier called on me, mentioning that as I was a friend of Col. Hay’s who was then in Ireland would I communicate to him that he (Mr Seguier) had recommended the Trustees of the National Gallery to purchase the Van Eck picture & he was authorised to offer for it six hundred pounds. This sum was accepted by Col. Hay.’ James Hay’s will gives no indication that he ever took any further interest in pictures. The ‘British Gallery’ exhibition was the British Institution exhibition of June 1841, where the painting attracted some notice, and on 2 May 1842 ‘the extraordinary merit of the Picture by Van Eyck, its perfect preservation, its extreme rarity and the moderate price at which it may now be obtained vizᵗ 600 Guineas’ induced the Trustees of the National Gallery ‘to recommend it without hesitation ... as a valuable addition to the National Collection’. Though the portrait was in the Gallery by June 1842, Hay had still not been paid in February 1843. The portrait was first exhibited, under glass and in a case, in March 1843 and immediately attracted crowds of visitors.
Further information has come to light regarding the painting’s location between 1794 and its ownership by James Hay. The picture remained where it was recorded in 1794, in a Retrete in the Cuarto del Rey in the Palacio Nuevo at Madrid, and was listed in two inventories taken during the reign of Joseph Bonaparte: in 1808, ‘[Otro «cabinet», aunque no lo especifica] J. de Holbein, peintre célèbre de Henry VIII: Un chevalier & une dame enceinte; à bien soigner, magnifiques, curieux’; and in 1811, ‘OTRO GAVINETE DEL QUARTO DE DORMIR, 575 [871], Un hombre y una mujer embarazada agarrados por la mano HOLBEIN’.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998 and supplemented by Lorne Campbell, 2021; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2008Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to TitianThe National Gallery (London)15 October 2008 - 18 January 2009
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2014Strange Beauty: Masters of the German RenaissanceThe National Gallery (London)19 February 2014 - 11 May 2014
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2017Reflections: Van Eyck and the Pre-RaphaelitesThe National Gallery (London)2 October 2017 - 2 April 2018
Bibliography
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1905W.H.J. Weale, 'The van Eycks and M. Bouchot', The Burlington Magazine, VII/25, 1905, pp. 82-3
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1906C. Phillips, 'Dramatic Portraiture', The Burlington Magazine, VIII/35, 1906, pp. 299-315
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1908E.E. Tremayne, The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria, London 1908
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1934R.N.D. Wilson, The National and Tate Galleries, London 1934
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1934L. Dimier, 'Letter: Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait', The Burlington Magazine, LXV/378, 1934, pp. 117-27
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1934G.F. Hill, 'Letter: Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait', The Burlington Magazine, LXV/379, 1934
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1934E. Panofsky, 'Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait', The Burlington Magazine, LXIV/372, 1934, pp. 117-27
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1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
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1950H. Kauffmann, 'Jan van Eycks Arnolfinihochzeit', Geistige Welt, IV/2, 1950, pp. 45ff
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1952M.W. Brockwell, The Pseudo-Arnolfini Portrait: A Case of Mistaken Identity, London 1952
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1953M. Davies, The National Gallery, London, Les Primitifs flamands. I, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pay-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle 3, 2 vols, Antwerp 1953
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1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1955J. Desneux, 'Jean van Eyck et le portrait de ses amis Arnolfini', Bulletin des Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, IV/1-4, 1955, pp. 129-44
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1955J. Lejeune, 'Vers une résurrection des réalités: La période liégeoise des van Eyck', Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, XVII, 1955, pp. 62-78
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1967M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, eds N. Veronée-Verhaegen and H. Pauwels, trans. H. Norden, 14 vols, Leiden 1967
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1970M. Comblen-Sonkes, 'Le dessin sous-jacent chez les Primitifs flamands', Bulletin de l'Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique, XII, 1970, pp. 195-225
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1972J. Lejeune, Jean et Marguerite Van Eyck et le roman des Arnolfini, Liege 1972
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1982D.L. Carleton, 'A Mathematical Analysis of the Perspective of the "Arnolfini Portrait" and Other Similar Scenes by Jan van Eyck', Art Bulletin, LXIV/1, 1982, pp. 118-24
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1984R. Baldwin, 'Marriage as a Sacramental Reflection of the Passion: The Mirror in Jan van Eyck's "Arnolfini Wedding"', Oud Holland, XCVIII/2, 1984, pp. 57-75
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1986J.B. Bedaux, 'The Reality of Symbols: The Question of Disguised Symbolism in Jan van Eyck's "Arnolfini Portrait"', Simiolus, XVI, 1986, pp. 5-28
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
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1989L. Seidel, 'Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait: Business as Usual?', Critical Inquiry, XVI/1, 1989, pp. 54-86
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1990C. Harbison, 'Sexuality and Social Standing in Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait', Renaissance Quarterly, XLIII/2, 1990, pp. 249-91
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1991J. Elkins, 'On the Arnolfini Portrait and the Lucca Madonna: Did Jan van Eyck Have a Perspectival System?', Art Bulletin, LXXIII/1, 1991, pp. 53-62
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1993M.D. Carroll, 'In the Name of God and Profit: Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait', Representations, 44, 1993, pp. 96-132
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1994E. Hall, The Arnolfini Betrothal: Medieval Marriage and the Enigma of Van Eyck's Double Portrait, Berkeley 1994
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1995R. Billinge and L. Campbell, 'The Infra-Red Reflectograms of Jan van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife Giovanna Cenami(?)', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XVI, 1995, pp. 47-60
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1997J. Paviot, 'Le double portrait Arnolfini de Jan van Eyck', Revue belge d'archéologie et d'histoire de l'art, LXVI, 1997, pp. 19-33
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1998Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2001
J.L. Sancho, 'Cuando el Palacio era el Museo Real. La Colección Real de Pintura en el Palacio Real de Madrid organizada por Mengs, y la description des Tableaux du Palais de S.M.C. por Frédéric Quilliet (1808)', Arbor, CLXIX/665, May 2001, pp. 83-141
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2004P. Nuttall, From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting, 1400-1500, New Haven 2004
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2005J. Snyder, Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575, ed. L. Silver, New Jersey 2005
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2005H.T. Colenbrander, '"In Promises Anyone can be Rich!" Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait: A "Morgengave"', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, LXVIII/3, 2005, pp. 413-24
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2007L. Galoppini, 'Gli Arnolfini a Bruges nel Quattrocento', in G. Garzella and E. Salvatori (eds), 'Un filo rosso'. Studi antichi e nuove ricerche sulle orme di Gabriella Rossetti, Pisa 2007, pp. 273-291
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2008L. Syson et al., Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 15 October 2008 - 16 January 2009), London 2008
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2022S. Avery-Quash and A. Lepine (eds), Fruits of the Spirit: Art from the Heart, London 2022
Frame
This is a fifteenth-century Netherlandish frame crafted from water-gilt walnut wood and with a pinewood back frame. A small flat at the outer edge leads to a plain frieze, which descends with narrow convex and concave mouldings towards the sight edge.
Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait has been reframed several times since its arrival at the National Gallery in 1842.
The earliest descriptions we have for a frame describe one with matt gilding with two shutters painted to resemble marble and bearing the arms of the art collector and first recorded owner of the painting, Don Diego de Guevara. Later a lock was fitted. This gilded frame featured a number of inscriptions but there is no reason to believe that this frame and, in particular, the inscriptions were original. Exposed wood around the edges of the panel indicate that it was originally constructed in an engaged frame.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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