Wonderful essay and painting. How interesting that the couple agreed or proposed to be painted in such a revealing fashion. I love the hand extended toward the viewer, as of the subject is about to tell you something.
Thanks, Rona. I think the extended hand is a way of drawing the viewer into that space, to a shared destiny that is inevitable. There's an inscription behind the couple that reads: "This is how we both looked, but in the mirror, nothing but that."
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it. One wonders who had the idea for the death-themed portrait, and why. But here my ignorance of art history comes in — I realize that I don’t know whether a momento mori marriage portrait fits into an established convention, or is as unique as it feels to me, encountering it today for the first time. The image feels so utterly personal to the sitters, too. It’s unforgettable.
This painting is an extraordinary exception to a long-standing tradition of double portraits of that time. There are some with odd gestures, such as a husband pointing to a pile of coins on a table or a wife holding grapes. But those all belong to the so called 'family tree' portraits of couples. I suspect Burgkmair himself came up with the idea for this one because of some indication in his life that death was not far away. It may even have been the death of his friend Dürer the year before that inspired him.
I was hoping you'd say that — that it wasn't that there was some tradition of doing these, like momento mori symbols on gravestones or some such thing. It's truly a remarkable thing, and remarkable to read about. Thanks for this.
Beyond the confines of chronology kind of sums up how I'm feeling at my age...
Wonderful essay and painting. How interesting that the couple agreed or proposed to be painted in such a revealing fashion. I love the hand extended toward the viewer, as of the subject is about to tell you something.
Thanks, Rona. I think the extended hand is a way of drawing the viewer into that space, to a shared destiny that is inevitable. There's an inscription behind the couple that reads: "This is how we both looked, but in the mirror, nothing but that."
Were you in Vienna! It is an extraordinary painting…. I would love to see it. I’ve always been fascinated by who history remembers…
Fascinating and remarkable — thank you.
Thanks so much for reading, and for restacking too. It's amazing how many amazing stories are hidden behind the annals of art
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I saw it. One wonders who had the idea for the death-themed portrait, and why. But here my ignorance of art history comes in — I realize that I don’t know whether a momento mori marriage portrait fits into an established convention, or is as unique as it feels to me, encountering it today for the first time. The image feels so utterly personal to the sitters, too. It’s unforgettable.
This painting is an extraordinary exception to a long-standing tradition of double portraits of that time. There are some with odd gestures, such as a husband pointing to a pile of coins on a table or a wife holding grapes. But those all belong to the so called 'family tree' portraits of couples. I suspect Burgkmair himself came up with the idea for this one because of some indication in his life that death was not far away. It may even have been the death of his friend Dürer the year before that inspired him.
I was hoping you'd say that — that it wasn't that there was some tradition of doing these, like momento mori symbols on gravestones or some such thing. It's truly a remarkable thing, and remarkable to read about. Thanks for this.