Artwork Page for Portrait of a Couple

Details / Information for Portrait of a Couple

Portrait of a Couple

c. 1580–88

Northern Italy, late 16th century

Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 132 x 173 x 10.5 cm (51 15/16 x 68 1/8 x 4 1/8 in.); Unframed: 99.8 x 140.5 cm (39 5/16 x 55 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Holden Collection 1916.793
Public Domain
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Location
118 Italian Renaissance
Print
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Did You Know?

The bejeweled martin (weasel) was a coveted fashion accessory in Renaissance Europe.

Description

While the attribution remains hotly debated, this work exemplifies how Italian portraiture of the 1500s could articulate family alliances through marriage. The inscription gives the sitters’ ages as 35 and 28, and their elaborate jewelry, weapons, and garments, made of expensive materials, convey their elite status. The marten skin attached to the woman’s waist-its head decorated with gems-symbolized propriety. These expressions of wealth convey achievements and position rather than accurate personalities, and the figures, though lifelike, stand in awkward relationship to each other, their interaction one of alliance not love.
Horizontally oriented oil painting depicting a man and woman from the waist up standing side-by-side. Their bodies tilt toward each other but they look at us, wearing black garments with cinched waists, high collars, and ruffled sleeves. The man holds a book with his right hand and places his left on his sword hilt. The woman drapes one hand just below her rings of gold necklaces. A gold ermine hangs from her waist.

Portrait of a Couple

c. 1580–88

Northern Italy, late 16th century

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