Sunday, April 30, 2006

The marriage of Arnolfini... or is it?

This is my favourite painting. It is called The Marriage of Arnolfini by Jan Van Eyck. It can be found in the National Gallery in London. I am in awe everytime I look at it, mainly because it has such detailed work with the light and the shadows.
If you go to the National Gallery Website you can zoom on it and see the details. The shadows on the chandelier, the mirror and the reflections in it, plus the little graffiti "Van Eyck was here" above it. Also the stubs around the mirror contain images from the life of Christ. And so many other details... There have been TV programs about it and scholars are still trying to reveal all its meanings.

For all of the above reasons, I am crazy about it!

I was showing it to my ex-flatmate Angela, who has studied Art and she told me that this painting contains secrets! The man on the portrait is not who they claim he is. It is claimed he is really Putin and this painting has hidden prophecies.
If you're not sure take a look at the Photoshoped version below to see the resemblence...
Spooky!

11 comments:

Mark T said...

Hi Marietta, I think that Rachel has been in the room and left her wedges!!!

greekzoe said...

Hi Marietta!

Hehe, that is a striking resemblence to Putin. Maybe he is one of his ancestors.

My best friend had a print of this painting up in her house. She came to my mind when I saw it. The real painting that is.

XXOO
Zoe

Anne-Marie said...

Hi Marietta,
This is like the DaVinci Code goes russian.:) I love a good art mystery- will check out the gallery website when I don't have 40 science projects to mark!

Cheers,
AM

Kid Ric said...

Hi Marietta,

Uncanny resemblance for sure. Too funny.

Thanks for the DVD hack tip. I will give it a try.

Peace, love and light,
Ric

E.L. Wisty said...

Hi Marietta!

My god, that is really the very image of Putin! Imagine if it really is a prophecy...To me the man seems to have his hand in a blessing gesture. Now, if it's Putin, it could be the Czar blessing his subjects. It has seemed to me like Putin wouldn't mind to see the Russian empire restored and himself as the Czar!

Suesjoy said...

Hi Marietta-
This is so interesting!
I bet Zoe is correct - he probably is one of Putin's ancestors. That's not too far fetched.
Take care,
Sue

Suesjoy said...

Hi again-
I was going to email you...but you don't have your address posted.
I got an email from Tracie today, saying that she is going to mail me Who tix for an LA show!
Did she get in touch with you?
Do you know which city you will see them in?
I hope you go for LA. We have to get as many bloggers together as possible.
I can't wait.
I guess I'll have to though!
Talk to you later.
I'm way behind in my posts...bad blogger Sue!
(Actually I couldn't post photos today).

Debby said...

Hi Marietta, thank you for the well wishes. By the way I have a picture of that poster that you have as well...when I figure out how to send it to you I will!

Take Care!

Debby

Dale said...

Dear Marietta

My, there IS an uncanny resemblance!

I was thinking EXACTLY what Anne-Marie said about the DaVinci Code - she beat me to it!

From The Who to Van Eyck art - where will this blog take us?

It is certainly a journey!

Love
Dale

Fleur de Bee said...

I remember studying this painting back in school. There are so many theories on it! I like it too! I especially like the folds in her dress...very hard to capture in such precision!

Anonymous said...

I think there is a lot of imagery hidden in this photo. Clearly the nose, smirk, eyes, ears and eyebrows look like Putin. If you look at the mirror you can see it reveals there are two other people in the room out of view from the main paintings. Could it be the painter and a friend, or two unkown figures. Is this really a marriage in the traditional sense or a marriage in two powers combining together? I am a minor Nostradamus buff, and he has many prophecies that line up with this painting. Regarding the marriage:
"The two great leaders will become allies,
Their great power will be increased,
The new nation will be at its peak of power,
To the bloody individual the number is counted."

Why is the background behind them all Red, a China/ Russian alliance reference? China is known as the Dragon Empire, and Russia as the Bear obviously which has some relation to the edging experiment. Could there be an outline of a bear in 'Putin' or Mr. Arnolfini as it may be.

Why in the chandelier is only one candle present burning. I could possibly see one being lit that it is daytime, but no other candles are even present; out of 7 different holders. That holds a lot of meaning too.

Century 6, Number 35.

Near the bear and near the white wool,
Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo,
Mars, Jupiter, the Sun burn over the great plain,
Woods and letters of cities are hidden in the candle.

Bear (again a reference to putin) and white wool, which is most likely on the ladies dress is present in the painting.

I just find a lot of the items in the painting odd, the removed shoes on the floor, the red on the throne (as in the Red is ruling), one flame among seven, the dragon on the throne ironically above the ladies hand. Really fun looking into the various relations to this painting. Be interesting what other relations people can find.