The lecture we had to watch was filled with a lot of interesting information but what stood out to me the most was the presence of disguised symbols in portraits. This is because when I think of portraits, typically all that comes to mind is faces. Because of this, I did not stop to think of the symbolism that could be incorporated into portraits. For example, van Eyck’s painting of Giovanni Arnolfi and his wife included a lot of symbols such as the patten on the ground that represented that what they were standing on was sacred ground. The dog was also a symbol for fidelity and it was because of this positive image that it had that it was placed on the center axis to bring attention to it. The peaches on the windowsill were also there to represent fertility, something that was desirable to the woman. There was also meaning behind where they stood because Giovanni stood by the window because that was where he was connected to through work while his wife stood next to the bed because she was connected to housework and the domestic life. All the symbolism in Hans Holbein’s painting of the ambassadors was also very interesting, especially the items that stood between the two. The two shelves, for example, represented the heavenly and earthly realm and were represented by the globes that were placed there. The upper shelf represented the heavenly realm and therefore had a globe that showed the skies. The lower shelf represented the earthly realm and had a globe of the Earth. The tools places on each shelf only added to these meaning as the ones on the upper shelf were all tools used to measure the heavens while the ones on the lower shelf were earthly pursuits. Such symbols, rather than taking away from the face, give context to the people present in the portraits and gives a kind of story to the art that adds to their viewing experience.