Portrait of a Young Married Couple
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Although the sitters in this portrait are unidentified, in all likelihood they were husband and wife. The painting has the typical format of a seventeenth-century marriage portrait, and the ivy clinging to the architecture behind them is a symbol of marital love and fidelity. Although the figures' poses suggest an affectionate connection to one another, their faces turn to the spectator.

Provenance

1880, possibly John Robert Townshend, 1st Earl Sydney (b. 1805 - d. 1890), Kent, England [see note 1]. 1907, Messrs. Lawrie and Co., London; 1907, sold by Lawrie, through Blakeslee Galleries, New York, to Robert Dawson Evans (d. 1909), Boston; 1909, by inheritance to Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans (Maria Antoinette Hunt) (b. 1845 - d. 1917), Boston; 1917, bequest of Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans to the MFA [see note 2]. (Accession Date: November 1, 1917)



NOTES:

[1] According to notes in the curatorial file, the Earl of Sydney lent a painting attributed to Rubens to the Royal Academy in 1880 (no. 54, "A Lady and a Gentleman," 48 1/2 x 36 1/2 in.). [2] Accessioned as a work by Peter Paul Rubens.

Credit Line

Robert Dawson Evans Collection

Portrait of a Young Married Couple

Dimensions
124.5 x 92.4 cm (49 x 36 3/8 in.)
Medium or Technique
Oil on panel
Classification
Paintings
Type
Portrait - Double
Accession Number
17.3232
On view
William I. Koch Gallery (European Painting and Hanoverian Silver) - 250

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