The Arnolfini Portrait Essay

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Due to the rise of the the renaissance in the 1400’s in Italy, there was a change in art. Art seemed to reflect realism and artist became more concerned with depicting life in the real world. One of the most iconic artist of that time period was Jan van Eyck and one of his most prized painting was The Arnolfini Portrait. The Arnolfini Portrait contains a ton of imagery and symbolism within it and due to that, it has lead many people pondering the meaning behind it. Many people seem to agree that the portrait depicts a wedding between two individuals of high wealthy class. It’s evident that there are wealthy due to the clothing they wear since it’s very luxurious and of high quality. In addition the room is heavily decorated with items of great value. Lastly, the oranges present in the wedding also show wealth since those fruits were greatly prized by Europeans. Furthermore, more imagery is found alluding to the idea that this is wedding is the green dress the women is wearing since it was customary to wear green dresses in weddings at the …show more content…

The art of this time varied to that of the Renaissance yet it reflected great energy and feeling and had a dramatic use of light, composition and scale. One of the most vivid and dramatic painting of that time was The Conversion of Saint Paul by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio evoked a feeling for “the mystical dimension within the ordinary world,” within that painting (Frank 292). Caravaggio was able to achieve this by giving us a close view of the event and by using a blinding flash of light. During, that time period it was especially important because Christianity was becoming of the largest religion in world, due to that a lot of the art of that time reflected that. His painting pertained to many and was very influential to people of Christian