when the Arnolfini portrait went on public display first a British institution in 1841 and then a national gallery before broader audience in 1843 it immediately began to command attention couple in this interior what was their relationship were they greeting the spectator also to a marriage scene and given the Victorian mindset and his emphasis on sexual morality some people thought the one might be pregnant and this hasty ceremony had taken place so the child would be legitimate when it was born but we know from other 15th century representations that it was quite normal for women to hold these bulky guns up in exactly this way then in the 1860s with new research it was argue that it was a representation of this merchant from luca Shivani on a fini and his wife so in the room they're standing here we can see on the right hand side a bed with red curtains it was quite normal to have beds in your living room they were expensive items and you might want to show them off on the left-hand side we can see that there's an open window and just see a tiny little bit of a cherry tree and on the windowsill and below there are some oranges just catching the light and oranges would have been very expensive items at this time a 15th century brugge and you would be showing off in a painting that you were rich enough to have oranges at this period in northern europe the mirrors have placed like an eye in the center of the composition which really adds to the mystery and the strangeness who are the two people seen entering the room the mirror has the effect of compressing the space but expanding it at the same time and bringing the world outside the picture frame into the heart of the composition above the mirror as though written on the wall is this extraordinary inscription in very elaborate writing and it's in Latin but it says Yan Vinayak has been here 14:34 the date of the painting so it's both a signature and perhaps an indication not just that Yan that Ike painted every inch of this picture but that he's shown here just below coming into the room this adds a narrative dimension who are these strangers why are they here is it an important occasion is there some spiritual or religious significance so it's a painting which poses more questions than it can actually address or answer Van Dyck shows off the way in which he can render different contrasting textures brilliantly so we see the light glancing off the brass chandelier and off the glass beads of the rosary hanging below the carpet the hairs and the dog with the wooden heels of the patterns the glass panes in the window and we can almost feel the texture of the fur lining the robes of the man on the left and his wife on the right you could almost feel you can touch every single surface so it allows a wonderful sensory appreciation of the painting and the environment he's conjuring out for this incredible technique [Music] you