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Girl in a Green Gown: The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait
The Arnolfini portrait, painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434, is one of the world's most famous paintings. It intrigues all who see it. Scholars and the public alike have puzzled over the meaning of this haunting gem of medieval art, a subtle and beautiful double portrait of a wealthy Bruges merchant and his wife.
The enigmatic couple seem to be conveying a message to us across the centuries, but what? Is the painting the celebration of marriage or pregnancy, a memorial to a wife who died in childbirth, a fashion statement or a status symbol? Using her acclaimed forensic skills as an art historian, Carola Hicks set out to decode the mystery, uncovering a few surprises along the way.
She also tells the fascinating story of the painting's survival through fires, battles, hazardous sea journeys, and its role as a mirror reflecting the culture and history of the time - from jewel of the Hapsburg empire to Napoleonic war trophy. Uniquely, for a masterpiece this old, it can be tracked through every single owner, from the mysterious Mr Arnolfini via various monarchs to a hard-up Waterloo war hero, until it finally came to rest in 1842 as an early star of the National Gallery. These owners, too, have cameo parts in this enthralling story of how an artwork of genius can speak afresh to each new generation.
The enigmatic couple seem to be conveying a message to us across the centuries, but what? Is the painting the celebration of marriage or pregnancy, a memorial to a wife who died in childbirth, a fashion statement or a status symbol? Using her acclaimed forensic skills as an art historian, Carola Hicks set out to decode the mystery, uncovering a few surprises along the way.
She also tells the fascinating story of the painting's survival through fires, battles, hazardous sea journeys, and its role as a mirror reflecting the culture and history of the time - from jewel of the Hapsburg empire to Napoleonic war trophy. Uniquely, for a masterpiece this old, it can be tracked through every single owner, from the mysterious Mr Arnolfini via various monarchs to a hard-up Waterloo war hero, until it finally came to rest in 1842 as an early star of the National Gallery. These owners, too, have cameo parts in this enthralling story of how an artwork of genius can speak afresh to each new generation.
258 pages, Hardcover
First published September 29, 2011
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649 people want to read
About the author
Carola Hicks
12 books7 followersCarola Hicks studied archaeology at Edinburgh University, and was an actress, journalist and House of Commons Researcher, before taking up an academic career. For several years she was curator of the Stained Glass Museum at Ely Cathedral, and then became a Fellow and Director of Studies in art history at Newnham College, Cambridge. Her books include Animals in Early Medieval Art, Improper Pursuits: The Scandalous Life of Lady Di Beauclerk, and two fine 'biographies' of works of art: The Bayeux Tapestry: The Life Story of a Masterpiece and Girl in a Green Gown: The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait.
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February 13, 2020First I will thank Lyn Elliott who reassured me that despite the title, which reminded me of The girl on the train, that this was not a bad book.
I think it is a great book for fans of Art Galleries, because it combines a discussion about the painting - The Arnolfini Portrait - and some opinions about it's meaning, with a lot about the life of that painting, who owned it, what happened to it , how it ended up in the National Gallery in London complete, true to Art Market tradition, with a fake provenance, and what happened to it there .
I am ambivalent though about this as a book about the Arnolfini portrait, the keyword in the title is mystery. In the postscript the author's widower mentions how Hicks had a jigsaw puzzle of the Arnolfini portrait that she did not finish putting together before her death, in much the same way this is a book that pours out all of the pieces before you and shuffles them about, but has no desire to show you a completed picture. Indeed a complete understanding of the picture is impossible because for one there is not what Carola Hicks claims there is - a complete history of it's ownership. We do not know who the picture was painted for, or who it's first owner was, the reasonable presumption is an Arnolfini, but there was more than one Mr Arnofini active in Bruges in the year that van Eyck kindly painted on the picture.
The long dominant theory of Erwin Panofsky was that the picture showed the wedding of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami, but it turns out that they only married in 1447 and Van Eyck died in 1441, the next candidate is a cousin; Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini who was married to Costanza Trenta, but she died in 1433, a year before the picture was painted in 1434. Interestingly the idea that the picture is a kind of memorial explains some odd features - the picture is a portrait of the man but the woman is an idealised archetype - she appears in several other van Eyck pictures as an angel, the face at least seems to be van Eyck's standard beautiful female rather than an actual ex-pat Italian woman, also her clothes are severely out of fashion by the standards of the 1430s, while the man's are not.
A book does not have to have answers, that is simply my preference, in the case of van Eyck we are lucky to know enough about him to understand how mysterious his work is. More substantively I was put off the book because the descriptive chapters about the painting are very short, most of the book is about the subsequent history of the painting and much of that I found not very interesting, I was a bit crushed by the chapter about the first known owner of the painting Diego de Guevara, a Castilian in the service of the Duke of Burgundy, Hicks tells us much about his career - which is curious in it's own right, but tells us nothing about the painting. Later the painting is owned by the Kings of Spain and Hicks discusses the various palaces in which the painting was not kept, or later Hicks tells us about the 'painting of the month' scheme of the National Gallery during World War Two in which one of the galleries paintings was moved from it's secure storage in a Welsh mine, freighted to London and put on special display for a month - she concludes that section by telling the reader that the Arnolfini portrait was never painting of the month! I am left disappointed by having been led up the garden path by the author only to be shown nothing at all, sigh. Alternatively you could say there is various interesting material here that deserves to be in a different book, or books.
One of the byways that interested me particularly was that when in the 1790s the French marched into the Austrian Netherlands (roughly modern Belgium) and then the Netherlands the army had a list of Art works to loot and send back to Paris, Van Eyck's Ghent Alterpiece has the distinction of have been looted by both the French and later the Nazis. The Arnofini Portrait itself was probably double loot: seized by the British after the battle of Vitoria from the wagons of plunder that Joseph Bonaparte was trying to extricate from Spain for his personal enjoyment in his planned retirement from the arduous role of puppet king of Spain.
Another interesting story was that there were doubts about storing the National Gallery' collection in Wales as there were fears that in the event of a successful German invasion that the Welsh would become a dastardly pro-nazi fifth column despite which fears the paintings were eventual stored in a welsh slate mine for the duration of hostilities - the evacuation of the paintings was planned and executed without having to ask the public for help, the same can not be said of the extraction of the British army from France.
A nice pleasant, easy reading book, more about the life of the Arnolfini Portrait than about the painting itself, but that opens it up to be enjoyed by more than only the fans of Van Eyck's work. My final negative note is that there are no close up illustrations of any of the details of the painting that Hicks discusses, nor is there a illustration of the underdrawing revealed by infrared photography which shows that the dog (a Brussels griffon) was not part of the original composition, but there are colour plates showing several Victorian paintings inspired by the Arnolfini Portrait.
I think it is a great book for fans of Art Galleries, because it combines a discussion about the painting - The Arnolfini Portrait - and some opinions about it's meaning, with a lot about the life of that painting, who owned it, what happened to it , how it ended up in the National Gallery in London complete, true to Art Market tradition, with a fake provenance, and what happened to it there .
I am ambivalent though about this as a book about the Arnolfini portrait, the keyword in the title is mystery. In the postscript the author's widower mentions how Hicks had a jigsaw puzzle of the Arnolfini portrait that she did not finish putting together before her death, in much the same way this is a book that pours out all of the pieces before you and shuffles them about, but has no desire to show you a completed picture. Indeed a complete understanding of the picture is impossible because for one there is not what Carola Hicks claims there is - a complete history of it's ownership. We do not know who the picture was painted for, or who it's first owner was, the reasonable presumption is an Arnolfini, but there was more than one Mr Arnofini active in Bruges in the year that van Eyck kindly painted on the picture.
The long dominant theory of Erwin Panofsky was that the picture showed the wedding of Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami, but it turns out that they only married in 1447 and Van Eyck died in 1441, the next candidate is a cousin; Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini who was married to Costanza Trenta, but she died in 1433, a year before the picture was painted in 1434. Interestingly the idea that the picture is a kind of memorial explains some odd features - the picture is a portrait of the man but the woman is an idealised archetype - she appears in several other van Eyck pictures as an angel, the face at least seems to be van Eyck's standard beautiful female rather than an actual ex-pat Italian woman, also her clothes are severely out of fashion by the standards of the 1430s, while the man's are not.
A book does not have to have answers, that is simply my preference, in the case of van Eyck we are lucky to know enough about him to understand how mysterious his work is. More substantively I was put off the book because the descriptive chapters about the painting are very short, most of the book is about the subsequent history of the painting and much of that I found not very interesting, I was a bit crushed by the chapter about the first known owner of the painting Diego de Guevara, a Castilian in the service of the Duke of Burgundy, Hicks tells us much about his career - which is curious in it's own right, but tells us nothing about the painting. Later the painting is owned by the Kings of Spain and Hicks discusses the various palaces in which the painting was not kept, or later Hicks tells us about the 'painting of the month' scheme of the National Gallery during World War Two in which one of the galleries paintings was moved from it's secure storage in a Welsh mine, freighted to London and put on special display for a month - she concludes that section by telling the reader that the Arnolfini portrait was never painting of the month! I am left disappointed by having been led up the garden path by the author only to be shown nothing at all, sigh. Alternatively you could say there is various interesting material here that deserves to be in a different book, or books.
One of the byways that interested me particularly was that when in the 1790s the French marched into the Austrian Netherlands (roughly modern Belgium) and then the Netherlands the army had a list of Art works to loot and send back to Paris, Van Eyck's Ghent Alterpiece has the distinction of have been looted by both the French and later the Nazis. The Arnofini Portrait itself was probably double loot: seized by the British after the battle of Vitoria from the wagons of plunder that Joseph Bonaparte was trying to extricate from Spain for his personal enjoyment in his planned retirement from the arduous role of puppet king of Spain.
Another interesting story was that there were doubts about storing the National Gallery' collection in Wales as there were fears that in the event of a successful German invasion that the Welsh would become a dastardly pro-nazi fifth column despite which fears the paintings were eventual stored in a welsh slate mine for the duration of hostilities - the evacuation of the paintings was planned and executed without having to ask the public for help, the same can not be said of the extraction of the British army from France.
A nice pleasant, easy reading book, more about the life of the Arnolfini Portrait than about the painting itself, but that opens it up to be enjoyed by more than only the fans of Van Eyck's work. My final negative note is that there are no close up illustrations of any of the details of the painting that Hicks discusses, nor is there a illustration of the underdrawing revealed by infrared photography which shows that the dog (a Brussels griffon) was not part of the original composition, but there are colour plates showing several Victorian paintings inspired by the Arnolfini Portrait.
May 25, 2019
This was such a perfect book in so many ways; the subject, the research, the lovely writing all came together to make an informative yet fascinating, charming and enriching reading experience.
The subject; the Arnolfini Portrait, painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434 now homed in the National Gallery in London (and now I want to go to London again to see it). The cover of the book is conveniently a reproduction of the picture but there are additional colour plates, details and close ups throughout the book. Oneof the close ups is of the inscription which tells us plainly the painter and the year. That, I think is a real bonus with this painting, because even with that, apparently, there have been a few suggestions he was not the painter, the inscription serves to place it as a really old painting. Despite being old it is immensely memorable, glowingly beautiful and has captivated generations and millions of people.
The research; there is so much information in this book ! However it is so cunningly delivered that one reads it like a story as does not feel the process of information getting. The two strands of research, which correspond to two strands of reading in the text, are: The portrait itself it's symbolism, style and execution as there is SO MUCH symbolism within it, and as it pertains specifically to Bruges of 1434 much of it is not intuitive. I have never been to Bruges, I doubt if I could get the modern symbolism even.
The other information strand is the history of the painting, because amazingly enough, this really old painting has almost perfect provenance but to explain it, the author beautifully takes us through the European history that pertains to it. That history is fairly tumultuous, because two of the paintings early owners were Margurite of Austria and then her niece Marie. Good gracious what amazingly strong, independent woman! What amazing things they achieved so long ago - how had I never heard of them before?
And that brings me to the lovely writing, it was so beautifully crafted this book! In an era of books written any old how by any old tabloid writer the competency of the writing was an absolute joy. No flashy flourishes, embarrassing personal stories or other nonsense, just well written, well edited and constructed text where the enthusiasm of the author for her subject matter comes through like clear sunlight and sparks and engages the enthusiasm of the reader.
In fact, I was greedily browsing the list of other works by the same author before I had finished the book and plotting how to get my hands on them. It was until the postscript that I realised that sadly the author wrote this gem of a book in the last stages of cancer and died as she was putting the final touches to it. The Postscript written by her husband, who put the final manuscript together is touching. It seems to me that this lovely, scholarly, fascinating book is a memorial that any art historian would be proud of.
The subject; the Arnolfini Portrait, painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434 now homed in the National Gallery in London (and now I want to go to London again to see it). The cover of the book is conveniently a reproduction of the picture but there are additional colour plates, details and close ups throughout the book. Oneof the close ups is of the inscription which tells us plainly the painter and the year. That, I think is a real bonus with this painting, because even with that, apparently, there have been a few suggestions he was not the painter, the inscription serves to place it as a really old painting. Despite being old it is immensely memorable, glowingly beautiful and has captivated generations and millions of people.
The research; there is so much information in this book ! However it is so cunningly delivered that one reads it like a story as does not feel the process of information getting. The two strands of research, which correspond to two strands of reading in the text, are: The portrait itself it's symbolism, style and execution as there is SO MUCH symbolism within it, and as it pertains specifically to Bruges of 1434 much of it is not intuitive. I have never been to Bruges, I doubt if I could get the modern symbolism even.
The other information strand is the history of the painting, because amazingly enough, this really old painting has almost perfect provenance but to explain it, the author beautifully takes us through the European history that pertains to it. That history is fairly tumultuous, because two of the paintings early owners were Margurite of Austria and then her niece Marie. Good gracious what amazingly strong, independent woman! What amazing things they achieved so long ago - how had I never heard of them before?
And that brings me to the lovely writing, it was so beautifully crafted this book! In an era of books written any old how by any old tabloid writer the competency of the writing was an absolute joy. No flashy flourishes, embarrassing personal stories or other nonsense, just well written, well edited and constructed text where the enthusiasm of the author for her subject matter comes through like clear sunlight and sparks and engages the enthusiasm of the reader.
In fact, I was greedily browsing the list of other works by the same author before I had finished the book and plotting how to get my hands on them. It was until the postscript that I realised that sadly the author wrote this gem of a book in the last stages of cancer and died as she was putting the final touches to it. The Postscript written by her husband, who put the final manuscript together is touching. It seems to me that this lovely, scholarly, fascinating book is a memorial that any art historian would be proud of.
October 13, 2011
It’s one of the most remarkable paintings in the whole of western art – it’s Jan Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, sometimes known as The Arnolfini Wedding, painted in 1434. It’s one of my favourite paintings, one of the great draws in London’s National Gallery.
It’s remarkable in two senses: for the freshness of Van Eyck’s vision, the intensity of the detail, for the range of objects that might mean something, might have some symbolic significance, or might mean nothing at all, other than that they are objects in a well-appointed room. It’s remarkable also for its remarkable history, passing through the hands of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons into those of Joseph Bonaparte, whose bottom was placed on the throne of Spain by big brother Napoleon. Joseph, I was delighted to discover, was called Pepe Bottles – Uncle Bottles - by his less than enamoured subjects, so known for his prestigious intake. Looted by a British officer from the dipso royal’s baggage after the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, the Arnolfini Portrait eventually made its way into the National Gallery.
More than any of this it is remarkable for its subject, a prosperous Flemish merchant couple, the first depiction of ordinary people, people who were not aristocratic or royal, just the middle class from the Middle Ages. It celebrates property, of course, it celebrates domestic comfort and wealth, as other paintings celebrate the landed wealth of the nobility.
But still there is a wonderful immediacy and homeliness to the painting; we know these people in their sheer ordinariness; we can identify with them as real human beings, not some grand statement about power. There is also an abiding mystery about this intense little oeuvre, a sense of otherness which raises all sorts of questions. It’s an enigma that's been taken up by the art historian Corola Hicks in Girl in a Green Gown: the History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait, sadly unfinished at the time of her death last year.
Beyond the fact that it’s a depiction of a merchant and his...his what, exactly? Is she his wife or his girlfriend? Is this a marriage or a betrothal? There is no certainty at all on the point, despite the misleading title. There is certainly a bond between the two, a couple who are, perhaps, already married, or who have simply announced a union to come. Is the lady in green pregnant, as so many have assumed from her bloated appearance? Would a pregnant paramour have been shown at such times in such a way? Why has the painter depicted himself in the mirror in the far wall? And why, as Hicks herself asks, does the man look like Vladimir Putin?
No, he's not Russian. He is, rather, a member of the powerful Arnolfini clan of Italian merchants, well-established in Bruges by the fifteenth century. Exactly who he is, though, and, even more intriguingly, who she is, the lady in green, has proved slightly more problematic, despite decades of speculation and art criticism. It may be one of two Giovanni Arnolfinis, though neither was married in 1434. So far as he is concerned it's certainly a fully-realised portrait of a particular individual (he was to appear again in the work of van Eyck), though she seems to be more of an ideal, a type reminiscent of the painter's Madonnas. Is she there at all, was she there for the sitting, or is she yet to come, not yet emerged from the shadows of the Platonic ideal, a future promise? Oh, and the celebration of fecundity may be no more than a celebration of cloth, another sign of the merchant’s wealth!
Hicks turns her thoughts to several themes, to the symbolism and the significance not just of the central act of union, but the surrounding paraphernalia - the dog - faithfulness? -, the mirror, the rug, the clothes, the glass in the windows, the furnishings, the single lighted candle and even the oranges by the window. Oranges, still a luxurious and expensive import, are another sign that Senor Arnolfini was a man of substance, a display of conspicuous consumption. They are also a reminder of Eve's gift to Adam, a fruit, interchangeable with apples, as the produce from the Tree of Knowledge. Even the bed is a sign of wealth, a sign that this was a man who could afford to put one in his front room! What we are looking at here is a celebrity couple, a kind of illustration from a fifteenth century version of Hello magazine, people who have made it and want others to know that they have made it, a bourgeois ideal!
The title of Hick's book is a clear nod in the direction of Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Mona Lisa of the North, Johannes Vermeer's later masterpiece, another mystery about an unnamed woman, another intrigue, a wonderful vacuum filled by speculation and fiction. Likewise, we will never know any more than we do about the Girl in the Green Gown; we will never come a step closer to her and her individual destiny.
Hicks is good, but she is much better on the history than the mystery, which, paradoxically, I find quite pleasing. Some enigmas are best left as they are, to intrigue and perplex for all time. But the greater mystery is the artist himself, employed at the time of the Arnolfini Portrait as a painter in the court of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. Why, and by what manner, did he come to see the world in such a radical and realist fashion, in a fashion completely different from the conventions of late medieval art? We simply do not know.
Meanwhile one central question remains: why does Arnolfini look like Vladimir Putin?
It’s remarkable in two senses: for the freshness of Van Eyck’s vision, the intensity of the detail, for the range of objects that might mean something, might have some symbolic significance, or might mean nothing at all, other than that they are objects in a well-appointed room. It’s remarkable also for its remarkable history, passing through the hands of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons into those of Joseph Bonaparte, whose bottom was placed on the throne of Spain by big brother Napoleon. Joseph, I was delighted to discover, was called Pepe Bottles – Uncle Bottles - by his less than enamoured subjects, so known for his prestigious intake. Looted by a British officer from the dipso royal’s baggage after the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, the Arnolfini Portrait eventually made its way into the National Gallery.
More than any of this it is remarkable for its subject, a prosperous Flemish merchant couple, the first depiction of ordinary people, people who were not aristocratic or royal, just the middle class from the Middle Ages. It celebrates property, of course, it celebrates domestic comfort and wealth, as other paintings celebrate the landed wealth of the nobility.
But still there is a wonderful immediacy and homeliness to the painting; we know these people in their sheer ordinariness; we can identify with them as real human beings, not some grand statement about power. There is also an abiding mystery about this intense little oeuvre, a sense of otherness which raises all sorts of questions. It’s an enigma that's been taken up by the art historian Corola Hicks in Girl in a Green Gown: the History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait, sadly unfinished at the time of her death last year.
Beyond the fact that it’s a depiction of a merchant and his...his what, exactly? Is she his wife or his girlfriend? Is this a marriage or a betrothal? There is no certainty at all on the point, despite the misleading title. There is certainly a bond between the two, a couple who are, perhaps, already married, or who have simply announced a union to come. Is the lady in green pregnant, as so many have assumed from her bloated appearance? Would a pregnant paramour have been shown at such times in such a way? Why has the painter depicted himself in the mirror in the far wall? And why, as Hicks herself asks, does the man look like Vladimir Putin?
No, he's not Russian. He is, rather, a member of the powerful Arnolfini clan of Italian merchants, well-established in Bruges by the fifteenth century. Exactly who he is, though, and, even more intriguingly, who she is, the lady in green, has proved slightly more problematic, despite decades of speculation and art criticism. It may be one of two Giovanni Arnolfinis, though neither was married in 1434. So far as he is concerned it's certainly a fully-realised portrait of a particular individual (he was to appear again in the work of van Eyck), though she seems to be more of an ideal, a type reminiscent of the painter's Madonnas. Is she there at all, was she there for the sitting, or is she yet to come, not yet emerged from the shadows of the Platonic ideal, a future promise? Oh, and the celebration of fecundity may be no more than a celebration of cloth, another sign of the merchant’s wealth!
Hicks turns her thoughts to several themes, to the symbolism and the significance not just of the central act of union, but the surrounding paraphernalia - the dog - faithfulness? -, the mirror, the rug, the clothes, the glass in the windows, the furnishings, the single lighted candle and even the oranges by the window. Oranges, still a luxurious and expensive import, are another sign that Senor Arnolfini was a man of substance, a display of conspicuous consumption. They are also a reminder of Eve's gift to Adam, a fruit, interchangeable with apples, as the produce from the Tree of Knowledge. Even the bed is a sign of wealth, a sign that this was a man who could afford to put one in his front room! What we are looking at here is a celebrity couple, a kind of illustration from a fifteenth century version of Hello magazine, people who have made it and want others to know that they have made it, a bourgeois ideal!
The title of Hick's book is a clear nod in the direction of Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Mona Lisa of the North, Johannes Vermeer's later masterpiece, another mystery about an unnamed woman, another intrigue, a wonderful vacuum filled by speculation and fiction. Likewise, we will never know any more than we do about the Girl in the Green Gown; we will never come a step closer to her and her individual destiny.
Hicks is good, but she is much better on the history than the mystery, which, paradoxically, I find quite pleasing. Some enigmas are best left as they are, to intrigue and perplex for all time. But the greater mystery is the artist himself, employed at the time of the Arnolfini Portrait as a painter in the court of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. Why, and by what manner, did he come to see the world in such a radical and realist fashion, in a fashion completely different from the conventions of late medieval art? We simply do not know.
Meanwhile one central question remains: why does Arnolfini look like Vladimir Putin?
January 7, 2013
This book has been a great discovery
She has skilfully combined a close look at, and discussion of, all the elements of this beautiful, enigmatic work with snapshots of the social and political worlds in which it was painted and through which it travelled on its journeys from C15 Bruges to Hapsburg Spain then to England as booty from the Napoleonic wars and finally to the collection of the National Gallery in London.
Hicks is both an art expert and a historian of note - and she writes beautifully as well.
Some ofther reviewers would rather have had more on the painting itself and less on its provenance. For me, the discussions of provenance are fascinating and add immensely to the scope of this book.
Why haven't I given it 5?
Although the colour illustrations are carefully chosen to illustrate some of the main themes of the book, I have been very frustrated by not being able to see the detail that Hicks describes. At least a couple of close-up images from the double portrait would have been welcome - the mirror and one of the textiles she describes in such vivid detail.
I borrowed this book from our local library - suck a lucky find! I will seek out more by Carola Hicks.
She has skilfully combined a close look at, and discussion of, all the elements of this beautiful, enigmatic work with snapshots of the social and political worlds in which it was painted and through which it travelled on its journeys from C15 Bruges to Hapsburg Spain then to England as booty from the Napoleonic wars and finally to the collection of the National Gallery in London.
Hicks is both an art expert and a historian of note - and she writes beautifully as well.
Some ofther reviewers would rather have had more on the painting itself and less on its provenance. For me, the discussions of provenance are fascinating and add immensely to the scope of this book.
Why haven't I given it 5?
Although the colour illustrations are carefully chosen to illustrate some of the main themes of the book, I have been very frustrated by not being able to see the detail that Hicks describes. At least a couple of close-up images from the double portrait would have been welcome - the mirror and one of the textiles she describes in such vivid detail.
I borrowed this book from our local library - suck a lucky find! I will seek out more by Carola Hicks.
December 28, 2019
I was on a tour of the National Gallery when I first saw this portrait in person, our tour guide recommended this book and I'm so glad I found a copy! Carola Hicks put her everything into this meticulous study of the history and mystery of a particularly alluring medieval double portrait of affluent Netherlander merchants. I will admit I was disappointed at first, because I was one of the cheesy multitudes "obsessed with what the artwork means" and wanting to be entertained as I was reading Girl with A Pearl Earring. But Hicks' is a captivating art historian and I feel she hasn't let a detail or moment go undocumented, in regards to this worthy subject. I was tremendously moved to read the final chapter in her husband's hand. Will look for more titles by this author.
July 13, 2017
It's a small painting... and is on display at London's National Gallery in the Sainsbury Wing. I've viewed it a few times on the wall in a relatively dark corner of a room, along with other Flemish and medieval paintings. I've also seen parodies of the painting; certainly it is parodied almost as much as that other iconic picture of a couple, Grant Wood's "American Gothic". The painting I'm referring to is "The Arnolfini Portrait", painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434 and which is the subject of the late British art historian Carola Hicks' book, "Girl in a Green Gown".
Carola Hicks has written an almost compulsively readable book about the painting. She not only covers the painting and its subjects - the identities of whom are themselves open to conjecture - but she discusses the chain of owners of the painting. Owned by a succession of Habsburg rulers in Bruges, the picture eventually found its way to Spain when Charles V's sister - who had owned the painting - moved from Bruges to Madrid. Three centuries or so of ownership by members of the ongoing line of Habsburg til 1699, ans then French Bourbon rulers, the painting was looted/taken/given (the exact details of the transfer from Spanish possession to British are a bit murky) after the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, when British forces under Wellington, defeated the Spanish/French army. A British Army officer ended up with the painting, which he eventually sold in 1842 to the British government, who was establishing a "National Gallery". The "Arnolfini" was quickly established by museum patrons and art historians as one of the Gallery's favorite paintings. Protected during two world wars, the work is now displayed, as I said, in a darkish corner of a room.
But however displayed, the "Arnolfini" continues to glow. From the green in the "bride'" gown to the red of the bed and to the more subdued colors of the "groom'" clothing, the painting is a feast to the viewer's eyes. Carola Hicks explains the details of the painting - from the colors used to the various small objects depicted. Everything in the painting had a meaning, and Hicks takes the reader back to the 15th century to explain them. The dog? The mirror with various reflections? Even the window and the importance of glass to a house of that period are explained by Hicks. Her book is not long - about 220 pages of text - but she covers everything from history to colors and dyes to mercantile trends. Her book is a wonderful look at a slice of European history from 1434 to present day. Like the painting it describes, the book is a gem, and worth locating in the US.
Carola Hicks has written an almost compulsively readable book about the painting. She not only covers the painting and its subjects - the identities of whom are themselves open to conjecture - but she discusses the chain of owners of the painting. Owned by a succession of Habsburg rulers in Bruges, the picture eventually found its way to Spain when Charles V's sister - who had owned the painting - moved from Bruges to Madrid. Three centuries or so of ownership by members of the ongoing line of Habsburg til 1699, ans then French Bourbon rulers, the painting was looted/taken/given (the exact details of the transfer from Spanish possession to British are a bit murky) after the Battle of Vitoria in 1813, when British forces under Wellington, defeated the Spanish/French army. A British Army officer ended up with the painting, which he eventually sold in 1842 to the British government, who was establishing a "National Gallery". The "Arnolfini" was quickly established by museum patrons and art historians as one of the Gallery's favorite paintings. Protected during two world wars, the work is now displayed, as I said, in a darkish corner of a room.
But however displayed, the "Arnolfini" continues to glow. From the green in the "bride'" gown to the red of the bed and to the more subdued colors of the "groom'" clothing, the painting is a feast to the viewer's eyes. Carola Hicks explains the details of the painting - from the colors used to the various small objects depicted. Everything in the painting had a meaning, and Hicks takes the reader back to the 15th century to explain them. The dog? The mirror with various reflections? Even the window and the importance of glass to a house of that period are explained by Hicks. Her book is not long - about 220 pages of text - but she covers everything from history to colors and dyes to mercantile trends. Her book is a wonderful look at a slice of European history from 1434 to present day. Like the painting it describes, the book is a gem, and worth locating in the US.
October 8, 2017
Whereas most art history books tend to cover a movement or an era in art, Carola Hicks’ Girl in a Green Gown (2011) is about a single painting. The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck is one of the most recognisable paintings in the world. I’ve visited it a couple of times in the National Gallery in London. It’s truly a masterpiece. Carola Hicks’ book deconstructs Van Eyck’s painting by alternating between the history of the Dutch empire and the symbolism that drenches the work.
I did enjoy this book overall. However there are some points where it just becomes as dry as talcum powder. The painting has an interesting history in that we know exactly who has owned it since its creation and Hicks follows the painting, person by person, to give its personal history. This way by far the most interesting aspect to me. The chapters which focus on the painting are kind like of Symbolism 101 with even the most beginner art historian being insulted with the utter spoon-feeding. I would recommended this book for beginners, it goes in-depth without becoming meticulous and leads you through an important era in European history.
I did enjoy this book overall. However there are some points where it just becomes as dry as talcum powder. The painting has an interesting history in that we know exactly who has owned it since its creation and Hicks follows the painting, person by person, to give its personal history. This way by far the most interesting aspect to me. The chapters which focus on the painting are kind like of Symbolism 101 with even the most beginner art historian being insulted with the utter spoon-feeding. I would recommended this book for beginners, it goes in-depth without becoming meticulous and leads you through an important era in European history.
February 22, 2015
Offers a lively account of the painting's rich provenance. I'm obliged to accuse the author of a disposition to present conjecture as fact (some tenous art historical assumptions I felt??? particularly concerning Marian iconography). Much content of great historical interest though … and my understanding of the painting's physical and art historical trajectory is all the richer for having read this.
May 6, 2019
I was very impressed with the research that Carola Hicks must have covered for she included every aspect associated with the painting throught its history as well as the analysis of the double portrait itself in the smallest detail. I found the historical information which supplemented the story very interesting too such as the history at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. She left no stone unturned and this book is an absolute tour de force.
September 14, 2024
Such a fascinating exploration, both of the painting and of where the painting has been and what it's seen. The sweep of history is precisely conveyed, and the deep reading of the painting was really interesting. I would have liked a little more about the possible interpretations of the subjects of the painting, but respect that Hicks was deliberately steering clear of that.
September 22, 2025
I was really pleased with this book! It’s my dear friend, Emily’s, favorite, so I was reading it as a bit of “homework.” Hicks writes with an engagement and passion for the Arnolfini portrait that simply doesn’t allow the reader to escape without a newfound love for it as well. There’s also something to be said for the fact of this book being posthumously completed by Hicks’s husband, who lovingly took responsibility for any errors that might arise. How special.
March 17, 2025
Oh my! I ate this delightful book up. Absolutely wonderful to learn so much more about my favorite painting in London’s National Gallery. The Arnolfini Portrait. Wow. All this remarkable insight sat on my bookshelf, unread, for many years. What else could I be missing?
June 20, 2017
If oil painting is God, then van Eyck is surely her greatest prophet! I'm so excited to be able to see this painting at long last next week. Really recommend this book because it doesn't ruin the art work but rather illuminates the picture in so many wonderful ways. I really hated that book a girl with the pearl earring and the author's other one about the unicorn tapestries, which is another work of art that I absolutely adored. Unfortunately these novels pin the artwork down like a frog in biology class about to be dissected. Thankfully this book by carola Hicks is much more subtle, as she presents many different versions of theories about this famous iconic picture. Some people say it's the best picture in the world. Some people say it's in the top 10 or the top five, regardless it is an absolutely extraordinary painting by the greatest oil painter of all time. I really recommend this book! It was an absolute pleasure to read. And it was very touching the way her husband completed the manuscript after passing.
August 7, 2018
This book is an in-depth look at one of the most important and easily recognizable paintings in the Western world, with the chapters alternating between explanations of the various elements included in the portrait, and the provenance of the painting prior to finding its home at London’s National Gallery.
I did find the chapters bouncing back and forth to be a bit jarring, but if you can get beyond that, the information contained within was certainly well researched, and provided insightful historical context. Sadly, the author died before her book was completed, so perhaps she would have revised it to read more smoothly, but her husband certainly did his best to complete the book in her honor, and while the “mystery” as to the identity of the couple is never definitively determined, I rather prefer it that way, and it is still a worthy read for anyone who wants to learn more about this extraordinary masterpiece.
I did find the chapters bouncing back and forth to be a bit jarring, but if you can get beyond that, the information contained within was certainly well researched, and provided insightful historical context. Sadly, the author died before her book was completed, so perhaps she would have revised it to read more smoothly, but her husband certainly did his best to complete the book in her honor, and while the “mystery” as to the identity of the couple is never definitively determined, I rather prefer it that way, and it is still a worthy read for anyone who wants to learn more about this extraordinary masterpiece.
August 14, 2018
3.5
this is a modest, good book, the first i have read about a single artwork. it is a great painting, which i came to appreciate more and more as i read, and which fortune allows anyone to see for free in the city where i live. there is discussion of artistic technique, history, commercialism and criticism, most of which was new for me. and the hands through which the porttrait passed over more than 500 years is a convenient angle on european history - not a flattering one. carola hicks, who i think writes very well (for example, stretches of spanish history i had read plenty about before). sadly she died just before finalising the book. her husband gary did a good job on the final touches. he sounds a nice man, and perhaps i will stand next to him looking at the arnolfini portrait in the national gallery next week without either of us knowing it.
this is a modest, good book, the first i have read about a single artwork. it is a great painting, which i came to appreciate more and more as i read, and which fortune allows anyone to see for free in the city where i live. there is discussion of artistic technique, history, commercialism and criticism, most of which was new for me. and the hands through which the porttrait passed over more than 500 years is a convenient angle on european history - not a flattering one. carola hicks, who i think writes very well (for example, stretches of spanish history i had read plenty about before). sadly she died just before finalising the book. her husband gary did a good job on the final touches. he sounds a nice man, and perhaps i will stand next to him looking at the arnolfini portrait in the national gallery next week without either of us knowing it.
May 22, 2019
Amazing book--other than providing detailed looks into every corner, every element of the Arnolfini portrait, the book also provides fascinating insights into figures that I last encountered in a footnote in AP European History class way back in high school, female regents and royal widows who may have appreciated the portrait from unique viewpoints. This analysis of the painting and its history provides a lovely female perspective on world history and art. The epiloque was particularly poignant--a husband's love letter to his wife, essentially, who was working on this book hours before her death ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 22, 2015
For a social historian like me this was a wonderful read that gave insight not only the Arnofini portrait but the times in which it was painted and the subjects of the painting. What a wonderful context that gave new understanding to a very intriguing and seminal painting.
wish-list
July 20, 2016Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Chatto & Windus (29 Sep 2011)
ISBN-10: 0701183373
ISBN-13: 978-0701183370
Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 16.2 x 3 cm
Publisher: Chatto & Windus (29 Sep 2011)
ISBN-10: 0701183373
ISBN-13: 978-0701183370
Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 16.2 x 3 cm
October 14, 2012
A wonderfully discursive study of a great painting and its fascinating history. Makes me want to dash back to the National Gallery and spend the day in front of this enigmatic portrait.
August 31, 2013
Absolutely fascinating.
January 3, 2023
Another good nonfiction read in 2022.
This book discusses the history of the era that Jan van Eyck painted this portrait in 1434, parts of the life and work of said artist, and also examines the details of the painting in terms of facial expression, their position in the room, their clothing fashion, the dyes used and the meaning of color, the folds, fur, and the cost etc., the furnitures, and every detail shown in the painting. Here is a quote from page 23: "Arnofilni's outer garment is a hueque, a long tabard, sleeveless and open at the sides. The shape originated as a form of Italian military dress that could be worn over armour, but it became fashionable as civilian wear in the early fifteenth century (like our modern-day use of camouflage patterns or combat trousers). The one in the painting seems to be made of silk and velvet [...]" (Hicks 23). I found the facts explored in this book fascinating. Furthermore, besides the artist and the painting, Carola Hicks presents the lives of every historical figure that owned the painting or was somehow important to its preservation over the years. Most of the negative criticism of this book seems to target this aspect of the book as some people seem to enjoy the details of the painting, but not the biographical details of its owners. I tend to disagree. I found this aspect too very interesting albeit that some historical figures might be more intriguing than others; for instance, the life bits of Marie of Hungary (or The Amazon Queen as she was called) were captivating while the chapter on The Dealers and The Prince and The Critics was somewhat dryer, so it felt longer. Nevertheless, overall, this was a very interesting book that I was glad to have read. It gave me more appreciation and a deeper understanding, not just about this particular famous painting, but also about art as a whole and about the historical period discussed in the book. I just wish the format of the book was better and higher quality with more and larger images. Note: The author Carola Hicks sadly passed away before the book was completed. After her death, her husband completed the last chapter and published the book.
This book discusses the history of the era that Jan van Eyck painted this portrait in 1434, parts of the life and work of said artist, and also examines the details of the painting in terms of facial expression, their position in the room, their clothing fashion, the dyes used and the meaning of color, the folds, fur, and the cost etc., the furnitures, and every detail shown in the painting. Here is a quote from page 23: "Arnofilni's outer garment is a hueque, a long tabard, sleeveless and open at the sides. The shape originated as a form of Italian military dress that could be worn over armour, but it became fashionable as civilian wear in the early fifteenth century (like our modern-day use of camouflage patterns or combat trousers). The one in the painting seems to be made of silk and velvet [...]" (Hicks 23). I found the facts explored in this book fascinating. Furthermore, besides the artist and the painting, Carola Hicks presents the lives of every historical figure that owned the painting or was somehow important to its preservation over the years. Most of the negative criticism of this book seems to target this aspect of the book as some people seem to enjoy the details of the painting, but not the biographical details of its owners. I tend to disagree. I found this aspect too very interesting albeit that some historical figures might be more intriguing than others; for instance, the life bits of Marie of Hungary (or The Amazon Queen as she was called) were captivating while the chapter on The Dealers and The Prince and The Critics was somewhat dryer, so it felt longer. Nevertheless, overall, this was a very interesting book that I was glad to have read. It gave me more appreciation and a deeper understanding, not just about this particular famous painting, but also about art as a whole and about the historical period discussed in the book. I just wish the format of the book was better and higher quality with more and larger images. Note: The author Carola Hicks sadly passed away before the book was completed. After her death, her husband completed the last chapter and published the book.
July 4, 2021
Like a first-rate art exhibition, the earlier sections of this meticulously researched treatise on the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck are fascinating and carry the weight of the entire book; the later sections are there to round off the painting’s history and to highlight its continuing influence on 21st century art and pop culture, but you can rush through them without losing out on the fantastic story of how it ended up in London 400 years after it was completed in Bruges. I’m astonished that the author, Carola Hicks, managed to complete this wonderful book while suffering from cancer. RIP.
September 27, 2018
Alternate chapters analysing in detail van Eyck’s Arnolfini portrait, the life and travails of the owners, historic personalities, art critics and dealers involved in the journey in time of this little and fascinating picture.
Captivating story. It brings to light a lot of interesting details and stories, elucidates meanings of the details of the pictures unknown to me before and leaves a lot of open questions as a good work of art should do.
Very satisfying reading. I have to go back to The National Gallery to see the picture with more discerning eyes than before 😉.
Captivating story. It brings to light a lot of interesting details and stories, elucidates meanings of the details of the pictures unknown to me before and leaves a lot of open questions as a good work of art should do.
Very satisfying reading. I have to go back to The National Gallery to see the picture with more discerning eyes than before 😉.
June 1, 2021
Excellent read. Very informative about the genesis of the painting and the history of its ownership. I like the way the book is structured with elements of the painting analysed in between the chapters about its ownership, themselves a history lesson. Well-researched, very detailed and well-written. And, of course, the painting is a masterpiece, which I was lucky enough to see very close up at the National Gallery exhibition a couple of years ago. I found it breath taking in its luminosity and van Eyck was clearly a genius of a painter.
July 12, 2021
I originally read this as part of my Degree studies as a library loan and found it amazing, so much so that I decided I wanted to own it so I purchased a copy and re-read it this year. This painting commonly known as 'The Arnolfini Portrait' is unique in that it has a provenance to goes back over 550 years to when in was painted by by Jan van Eyck in 1434, passing from owner to owner and travelling right across Europe until it ends up in the National Gallery. Although actually a text book, it is Brilliantly written well documented and interesting, having a 'life' of its own.
September 10, 2022
The Arnolfini portret is one of those rare paintings there can never be enough books about. This author did a reasonably OK job for example on explaining the fabric of the dresses portrayed. However, the book misses a punchline, a clear interpretative statement on this breathtaking artwork. This makes it a bit dull to read. If you really want a daring interpretation, I would highly recommend another book ‘the Arnolfini case’ by the french physician jean philippe Postel, which I also reviewed in this app.
September 20, 2025
Loved this book. It was so well written to keep you enthralled. I liked how every second chapter was a study of part of the painting and every other chapter was about where it physically was at different points through history
It is a great memorial to Carola Hicks. I look forward to reading her book on the Bayeaux Tapestry
It is a great memorial to Carola Hicks. I look forward to reading her book on the Bayeaux Tapestry
August 22, 2023
This is an amazing story which brings to life 15th century Europe through the study of a family portrait and it's subsequent ownership. Not at all dry as you might expect at first glance but beautifully written and masterfully researched ... in fact it's my favourite book this year.
December 20, 2017
Fabulous and easy to read account, of both the provenance of this beautiful painting and an analysis of the picture/details itself.
May 2, 2018
Terrible. Really contrived simple and cringeworthy.
Most inaccurate and faux sensational. Dull depressing misinformed work
Most inaccurate and faux sensational. Dull depressing misinformed work
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