 Panofsky also argues that the many details of domestic items in the painting each have a disguised symbolism attached to their appearance.While Panofsky's claim that the painting formed a kind of certificate of marriage is not accepted by all art historians, his analysis of the symbolic function of the details is broadly agreed, and has been applied to many other Early Netherlandish paintings, especially a number of depictions of the Annunciation set in richly detailed interiors, a tradition for which the "Arnolfini Portrait" and the "Mérode Altarpiece" by Robert Campin represent the start (in terms of surviving works at least).Since then, there has been considerable scholarly argument among art historians on the occasion represented.