Giovanni Arnolfini and his bride (1434), realism

       This art from Jan Van Eyck was my favorite art piece in the first chapter of the book. It is difficult to easily identify what was so interesting about it. However, this piece showed something that other art pieces did not show; a realistic representation of people. Other art works were highly symbolized works representing highly pious and sacred imagery. While it may be historically important, the minimized style and lack of details about people’s everyday lives were not interesting. So when this art work showed a piece of the actual world that people lived in.