She's Not Pregnant. And the Painter Died Before They Got Married | VERSO

For centuries, this was called "the Arnolfini wedding portrait" — painted by Jan van Eyck in Bruges in 1434. The theory: it was an official record of the couple's marriage.
Then a document surfaced. Arnolfini and his wife Giovanna didn't marry until 1447. Thirteen years after the painting. Six years after Van Eyck had already died. Nobody knows who the people in the portrait actually are.
And the pregnancy? Not real. The woman is holding up the front of her heavy dress — a 15th-century gesture for balance. A rounded belly was a beauty ideal of the time, not a sign of pregnancy.
What's left is one of the most technically extraordinary paintings of the 1400s. The convex mirror in the background reflects two men entering the room — one of whom may be Van Eyck himself.
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Видео She's Not Pregnant. And the Painter Died Before They Got Married | VERSO канала Verso Art