Wedded and Dutch - a selection of portraits of seventeenth century Netherlandish married couples

 

Double portrait of an unknown couple, by Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1661. 

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Joseph Coymans and Dorothea Berck, by Frans Hals, 1644.

Note that he's wearing the left of a pair of gloves...

... and she the right.

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Marriage portraits of Henrick Hooft and Aegje Hasselaer, by Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt, 1640.

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Double portrait of a married couple, by Pieter Codde, 1634.

I love the detail of the discreetly held hands.

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Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, by Rembrandt, 1634. 

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Marriage portrait of Isaac Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, by Frans Hals, circa 1622.

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Unknown couple, Amsterdam School, 1612.

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These portraits of an unknown couple, painted as pendants by Rembrandt in 1633 have, sadly, been separated since 1793.

"Portrait of a Young Woman with a Fan", which resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"Portrait of a Man Rising from His Chair", which is in the collection of the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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Abraham del Court and Maria de Kaersgieter, by Bartholomeus van der Helst, 1654.

Blumen und das reichste Licht - floral paintings by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

 

One of the greatest artists of the first half of the nineteenth century, Waldmüller could paint anything - and did. His portraits are full of dash and exquisite detail, but always conveying real character. His lively genre scenes follow in the same vein, and his sensitive, lyrical landscapes are quite powerful in their simple directness. Everything he painted was described with the same exact but tender brush stroke, the picture plain full of color and sparkle, but also a sharply focused truth. I've always admired his skill and wonderful consistency. So I was rather surprised that I'd never even noticed his gorgeous and rather outrageously lavish floral paintings, every texture rendered to perfection.. Alright, then, here we have it!

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