Erwin Panofsky

been able to establish the true meaning behind the portrait. The most notable opinion is that of Erwin Panofsky, who argues that the Arnolfini was a marriage ceremony and was witnessed by the painter, shown with his reflection in the mirror. In the essay, The Arnolifini double portrait: A simple solution, author Margaret Koster attempts to offer a simpler explanation through evidence she has gathered, and supports her theory with historical references. Koster’s opinion is that the Arnolfini is a posthumous representation of Costanza, the only wife of Giovanni de Nicolao, whom she believes to be the man in the painting. She further supports her opinion by taking a closer look at the iconology and hidden messages, which she believes allude to Constanza being deceased in the portrait. This paper will examine if Koster has effectively constructed a convincing argument that the Arnolfini is, in…

military units to go and try to stop them. This wasn’t enough, but Rundstedt hoped it would buy them enough time for reinforcements to come in to help them. However, because of Hitler’s mistrust in his generals, only Hitler himself could control that unit, as they were the OKW (the German army) reserves. Hitler was asleep at that time, so Rundstedt couldn’t do anything. Hitler also had trouble sleeping and, with strict orders given by himself, no one was to wake him that day, so no one woke him.…

1. DEFINE THE SUBJECT/EVALUATE THE SOURSES: a. Battle of the Kasserine Pass The Battle of the Kassserine Pass took place during the Tunisian Campaign of World War II in February of 1943. The Kasserine Pass is a wide gap located on the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. The Allied forces involved in the battle were the U.S Army’s II Corps and the British 6th Armored Division. The Axis forces involved were Afrika Korps Assult Group and two Panzer divisions from the 5th Panzer Army. 2.…

During and after the Second World War many leaders, soldiers, and officials of Germany were tried for war crimes because of their in humane practices and policies. Many viewed these Nazi Germans as ruthless savages that lacked any regard for the treatment of their enemies, prisoners, and even their own soldiers. Erwin Rommel was a field marshal that fought for Nazi Germany, leading many successful campaigns throughout Africa and Europe against the allied forces, but he was unlike the other Nazi…

Patton Patton is a historical drama surrounding United States General George S. Patton and his career in Africa and Europe during World War II. While I initially chose this film because it was easily available on Netflix, I came to enjoy that it focused on the war in Northern Africa and Italy, which are often overlooked in modern cinema and other mediums. The film depicts General George S. Patton, a loud mouth, no nonsense, and pugnacious general stuck in the middle of the fight in North…

Augusto Boal and Bertolt Brecht are two performance theorists who have two very different perspectives on theatre. Brecht used his experience of a Marxist to influence his idea of “epic theatre” to stir the will of action in its audience. Boal believed it to be detrimental for a play’s audience to have an emotional understanding of the characters and the effects the play have on said characters. I am curious about how the theories of Boal and Brecht apply to Tokyo Fish Story which was written by…

Nazi Germany, through Hitler’s blitzkrieg tactics, had swept through most of Central Europe and Libya prior to the battle. Their ever-increasing confidence led to their demise in the Siege of Tobruk through basic, errors and judgements. As part of the foreword to John Joseph Murray’s “I Confess: A Memoir of the Siege of Tobruk”, excerpts of thoughts and opinions from war correspondent Chester Wilmot criticises the tactics of Axis commander Erwin Rommel by commenting that, “individually these…

Some authors include Anne D’Alleva, Erwin Panofsky, and Brendan Cassidy. In her book Look! Anne D’Alleva provides a short interpretation of the Arnolfini Portrait. She establishes her argument in a subtle way as she is trying to guide students in how to interpret art. Her argument is mostly about the wealth this couple has. She describes how the oranges are scattered carelessly along the window frame, as to show the neglect of such a rare and expensive fruit. She proves this wealth to readers…

In what follows after my motivation is not to engage in a precise commentary of the various symbolic interpretations Panofsky proposed, some of which have been addressed by others. Comparatively, I take many of these now exemplary pieces of symbolism in the double portrait as a point of departure for further examination by additional scholarly analysis, utilizing them as outlines of methodologically iconographic translation, with an interest for placing the portrait in a classical setting that…

marriage contract by Marcus van Vaernewijck in 1568. Van Vaernewijck has been discredited as a reliable source. Because of the lack of labels on the painting, there was no argument against the marriage contract theory. Although not all paintings were labelled in the fifteenth century, it was common enough for it to be expected of an artist. The further perpetuation of the marriage contract theory is due to Erwin Panofsky, who published his book Early Netherlandish Painting Its Origins and…