Portraits of 15th and 16th century commoners are very rare, as they were only painted on special occasions, such as weddings. A wedding was probably also the occasion of this double portrait of an unknown man and woman. Man and woman both sport rings. The man holds a rolled up piece of parchment, which may well be a marriage contract. But there is something else, too… the man is pointing to his wife and her left hand is resting on her round belly. She is pregnant! To us it may seem strange that the woman is pregnant before she is married. But at the time, for a woman to be able to produce offspring was a major condition for marriage. So what we see here is not a so-called shotgun marriage but a much wanted pregnancy.

The woman holds a pomander in her right hand. For more information on this, press A.

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