The Goldsmith- More Advertisements

To be honest, I am becoming very tired of blogging about Christian art. Scouring chapters nineteen and twenty in Gardner's Art through the Ages for something secular but not 'boring', I have decided to write about Petrus Christus' A Goldsmith in His Shop. Unfortunately (for me) this painting still has religious ties. The goldsmith has often been argued to be Eligius, the patron saint of goldsmiths. Ironically, there was once a halo around the goldsmith's head, but was discovered to be added by someone other than the artist, so was removed by art historians.
During the Northern Renaissance, many wealthy men wanted important events in their lives to be depicted in an oil portrait. This painting could have been a couple buying their wedding ring from Eligius or a scene that Christus thought would make a lovely portrait, there is really no way of knowing. As in every Flemish painting, all "everyday objects [have] symbolic reference". The belt next to the women in the painting represents chastity, the scales represent the Last Judgment (and are used to measure the rings).

The object in this painting that intrigued me most was the coral. Most of the paintings we have seen so far do not include natural objects. The coral, along with the precious stones, beads and crystal, are to show the audience what materials the goldsmith had in his possession to turn into jewelry. The pewter pitcher, placed for offerings, almost exemplifies the use of this painting for propaganda. The painting, placed inside a church, showed how extravagant the goldsmith's work was and how every couple wanted a piece of it-- another couple is depicted walking towards the goldsmith's shop in the convex mirror (although not as well articulated as van Eyck's mirror in Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride). As I see it, this painting is no more of an advertisement than a commercial seen on TV today-- everything strategically placed to capture and entrance the viewer.