Period Setting: Final Decision

My final decision as to which era I will set my remake of 'The Arnolfini Portrait' is Victorian England. And upon further research I have found that my choice of this period goes far deeper in linking with the original than I could have anticipated! I found a completely brilliant book called 'Girl in a Green Gown: The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait' by renowned Art Historian, Carola Hicks, this book is a bible of sorts for the image and discusses all the themes and mysterious factors in the painting. The symbolism, such as the oranges being a symbol of wealth etc. fits incredibly well in both eras and can be altered accordingly when necessary. Hicks begins by explaining that, student of the Royal Academy Schools of Arts, William Holman Hunt, upon visiting the gallery 'was enthralled by the combination of realism and religious symbolism in Flemish painting' and that these methods 'effortlessly [achieved] the truthful morality that he...sought to restore to Art'. He was particularly taken aback by The Arnolfini Portrait and it can be argued that it is one of the resons he created the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.
A painting by Hunt that is particularly interesting with regards to Van Eyck's peice is 'The Awakening Conscience' (1854):

A strong theme for the Pre-Raphaelites was 'the fallen woman' within stories and poems and it seems that Hunt 'tackled the same theme more rapidly and effectively under the immediate inspiration of the National Gallery's Van Eyck, a work he had known and admired since it's aquisition'. In the image we see a 'couple in a well-furnished room with a mirror on the back wall. The contents symbolised their relationship and the contemporary status symbols of piano, carpet, chair and ornaments were all as minutely detailed as the bed, chest and settle in' Van Eyck's. However with Hunt's image the underlying theme was different. In his was a kept woman trying to escape from the man whio has 'ruined her'. A far cry from the stable marriage of The Arnolfini Portrait. It has been argued that the large mirror on the back wall allows us to see her escape, she is rising off the chair to get out of the relationship, it is a message of hope.
Other elements to consider in this image is 'instead of the faithful dog, a cruel cat toys with a bird just as the man toyed with the woman; instead of the orderly patterns and slippers, a soiled glove is tossed on the ground, just as he will toss her aside'

'Hunt had absorbed Van Eyck's symbolism as much as his realism' This is what I want to take forward as inspiration for my own version of the Arnolfini Portrait.

Hicks, C (2011). Girl in a Green Gown, The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait. London: Chatto & Windus (pg172)