# Double Portrait of an Engaged Couple

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/zeitblom-bartholome-ra6e888f0b79063/double-portrait-of-an-engaged-couple-rf70abb605c2eca>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [ZEITBLOM, Bartholome](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/zeitblom-bartholome-ra6e888f0b79063>)
- Date: 1451-1500
- Technique: Oil on panel, 45 x 55 cm

## Commentary

Two lovers are represented in separate special planes, divided by a wall and window depicted with a primitive naturalism. &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/l/lippi/filippo/1440/00portr1.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/l/lippi/filippo/1440/00portr1.html&#34;&gt;Fra Filippo Lippi&#39;s celebrated Portrait of a Man and Woman&lt;/a&gt; in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, dated to around 1440, follows a similar pictorial device. These two conjugal portraits emerge from a tradition of extensive commentary on the Song of Songs, particularly verse 2:9: &#34;Behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.&#34; The Song of Songs, unique in its celebration of sexual love, is the most heavily interpreted of all the books in Scripture, and it became the basis for a rich imagery of love in Medieval and Renaissance literature and art.

## Related artworks

- [Double Portrait of an Engaged Couple \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/zeitblom-bartholome-ra6e888f0b79063/double-portrait-of-an-engaged-couple-detail-reb4b0c00c31a96>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)