Blade Runner, The Arnolfini Portrait, and the Small Dog
An intimate look into the hidden life of underwear
4:20
October
Friday the 13th
Everything you need to know
Except this…
…and this…
…and this…
I’ve been a surgeon nigh on 40 years. I’ve disrespected my share of cadavers, believe me. So let’s learn something new before we light up and pass out.
The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck
The Arnolfini Portrait by the Dutch painter Jan van Eyck is thought to portray an Italian merchant named Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, who lived in the Flemish city Bruges.
The painting is celebrated for its vivid and detailed representations of the couple and their surroundings, and the precise geometry of its composition, which includes an intricate reflection of the scene in a framed circular mirror hanging on the wall of the room.
The details of the painting have fueled many theories about its hidden symbolism, from the way the couple is joining hands, to the meaning of the small dog, the carelessly placed pairs of shoes, and the single lit candle in the chandelier. The artist’s signature also appears as graffiti on the wall of the room: “Jan van Eyck was here, 1434.”
The circular convex mirror on the wall near the center of the painting reveals an intricate reflection of the room as the scene was painted — including two additional figures standing beside the doorway, one whom may be the artist himself. It’s not known if van Eyck used a real convex mirror to paint the scene from behind, but the curved distortions of the image are almost optically perfect, experts have said.
A contentious theory from the 1930s holds that the scene is a representation of the marriage of the couple, and that the mirror image and van Eyck’s dated signature are designed to serve as a legal record of the marriage, including the two witnesses required to be present. But, this theory now finds little favor with most art historians and with the curators of the National Portrait Gallery in London, England, where the painting is now on exhibit.
The distinctive Arnolfini Portrait is often referenced and parodied in popular culture, including a Muppet version featuring Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. In Ridley Scott’s 1982 science-fiction movie “Blade Runner,” bounty hunter Rick Deckard (played by actor Harrison Ford) find clues about the androids he is chasing by zooming in on the reflection in a circular, convex mirror that hangs on the wall of a room in a photograph.
Or this…
I don’t mean to lecture you, but… someone has to. Ready?
