The Jan van Eyck portrait of the marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami provides room for interpretation from different perspectives. The classic interpretation offered by Erwin Panofsky focuses on the religious sacrament of marriage, while the interpretation provided by Linda Seidel argues the portrait portrays the economics involved in marriage that represents ôbusiness as usual.ö This analysis will provide a comparison and contrast of PanofksyÆs and SeidelÆs interpretations.
There are a number of similarities in the Panofsky and Seidel interpretations of van EyckÆs ôArnolfiniö panel. Both agree that the portrait revolves around the informal wedding ceremony of Giovanni Arnolfini and his foreign bride Giovanna Cenami. Both are in agreement that the wedding is witnessed by the artist van Eyck, and both agree that the ceremony is conducted without clergy in Bruges where neither individual has relatives. However, this is where the similarities end. For PanofskyÆs interpretation focuses on the importance of the male figure and the sacramental nature of the proceeding and the objects in the room. Panofsky views the dog, the shoes, the fruit, the bed and the mirror in the painting as transforming an ordinary living room into a ôNuptial Chamberàa room hallowed by sacramental associations.ö
SeidelÆs interpretation of the painting does not view the ceremony in such sacred terms. Instead, the author argues that the informal ceremony is emblematic of the economics underlying marriage in the era. Seidel contends that PanofskyÆs critique tends to obscure the womanÆs social standing and the domestic aspects of the marriage ceremony. To Seidel, the couple are ôin no way simple foreignersö and the status of the Cenami family represents the fact that Arnolfini was ômarrying æup.Æö Seidel contends that the portrait might occur on ôRing Day,ö a formal exchange o
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