Wedding portrait paintings: 12 couples from Van Dyck to Böcklin
Royal betrothals, Florentine wedding chests, a Rococo declaration of love and a Symbolist honeymoon: twelve masterpieces about marriage, and how to turn your own day into a portrait.
For most of history a wedding portrait was a contract in paint. Families commissioned them to seal alliances, painted them on the chests that carried a bride’s dowry, and hung them where guests would see. Over the centuries the subject softened, into declarations in gardens, dances in the country and couples alone at the edge of the world.
The twelve works below tell that story from Florence in 1410 to Böcklin’s honeymoon in the 1870s. Each one can be given as a print, the classic wedding or anniversary gift for a couple who love art. And if you would rather see the two of you in the picture, Fable turns a photo of a couple into a portrait in the manner of the old masters, with a free preview first.
1. The Royal Betrothal
Anthony van Dyck, The Royal Betrothal, 1641. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Van Dyck painted the betrothal of Princess Mary, daughter of Charles I, to William II of Orange in 1641. She was nine and he was fifteen, and the portrait was as much a treaty as a love story. It is still the grandest double portrait in Dutch collections.
Pairs naturally with a couple’s own formal portrait.
2. Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement
Fra Filippo Lippi, Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, ca. 1440. Tempera on wood. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The earliest surviving Italian double portrait, painted around 1440. A richly dressed woman stands in profile while a man peers in through the window behind her, probably her husband, with his family’s coat of arms beneath his hands.
A rare, intriguing gift for a couple who love Renaissance Florence.
3. Scenes of a Marriage Ceremony (cassone panel)
Scenes of a Marriage Ceremony (cassone panel), ca. 1410. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
This panel once decorated a cassone, the painted chest that carried a bride’s belongings to her husband’s house. It shows the wedding procession itself, figures in their finest clothes, around 1410.
Its long format is ideal above a sideboard or a bed.
4. The Wedding Night of Tobias and Sarah
Rembrandt, The Wedding Night of Tobias and Sarah, 1640–49. Atelier colour edition of the pen and ink drawing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
In the Book of Tobit, Tobias and Sarah begin their marriage by praying together. Rembrandt drew the scene in brown ink and wash in the 1640s, the couple kneeling side by side in a pool of light.
An intimate, quiet piece for a bedroom.
5. Declaration of Love
Nicolas Lancret, Declaration of Love, c. 1720. Oil on canvas. Cleveland Museum of Art.
Nicolas Lancret was a follower of Watteau and a master of the fête galante, the elegant outdoor party. Here a suitor makes his declaration to a woman with a lute, the garden statue watching like a chaperone.
A light, joyful gift for an engagement.
6. A Dance in the Country
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, A Dance in the Country, ca. 1755. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, son of the great Venetian ceiling painter, loved scenes of everyday pleasure. A couple dances in a country clearing while the musicians play: the first dance, two and a half centuries early.
Perfect for a couple whose wedding was outdoors.
7. Peasant Couple Dancing
Albrecht Dürer, Peasant Couple Dancing, 1514. Atelier colour edition of the engraving. Cleveland Museum of Art.
Albrecht Dürer engraved this stomping, laughing couple in 1514, the same year as his most serious prints. It is one of the most joyful images of the Renaissance, here in Fable’s colour edition of the engraving.
For the couple who danced until the end of the night.
8. The Wedding of Saint George and the Princess Sabra
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Wedding of Saint George and the Princess Sabra, 1857. Watercolour on paper. Tate, London.
Rossetti painted this jewel-box watercolour in 1857: Saint George, home from slaying the dragon, embraces the princess he rescued. It is Pre-Raphaelite romance at its most intense, every inch patterned and glowing.
Rich reds and golds that come alive on a dark wall.
9. Lovers on a Hill
Arnold Böcklin, Lovers on a Hill, 1863.
An early Böcklin, painted in 1863: two lovers resting on a hillside above a lake, under a soft grey sky. Nothing dramatic happens, which is exactly the point.
Calm greens and blues for a bedroom or a sitting room.
10. The Honeymoon
Arnold Böcklin, The Honeymoon, ~ 1875 1876.
Böcklin’s honeymooners sit on a rock at the edge of the world. He points out over the landscape, toward a future neither of them can see yet.
A thoughtful wedding gift with a sense of adventure.
11. Springtime
Pierre-Auguste Cot, Springtime, 1873. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Pierre-Auguste Cot’s Springtime was a sensation at the Paris Salon of 1873 and has been on posters ever since. Two young lovers on a swing in a sunlit wood: first love, painted without irony.
The most romantic picture on the list.
12. Umegawa and Chūbei
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川歌麿, Umegawa and Chūbei, c. 1803 (Kyōwa 3). Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Harvard Art Museums.
Utamaro’s series An Elegant Comparison of Affections drew famous lovers from Japanese theatre. Umegawa and Chūbei were the hero and heroine of a tragic love story, shown here in a moment of complete closeness.
Minimal and pale, it suits a modern home beautifully.
A wedding photo records the day; a portrait says what the day meant. Choose a masterwork that feels like the two of you, send your favourite photo together, and see a free preview before you decide.
Questions
What is the best photo for a couple portrait?
One where you are both clearly lit, close together and at a similar distance from the camera. Faces matter most, so a mid-length photo works better than a wide shot of the whole wedding scene.
Is a painting a good wedding gift?
Yes, especially a print of a famous painting of a couple, or a portrait made from the couple’s own wedding photo. It is personal, it lasts, and it gives a new home its first piece of real art.
What was a cassone?
A large painted chest made in Renaissance Italy to carry a bride’s trousseau to her new home. The front panels were often painted with weddings, triumphs or love stories, and many now hang in museums as paintings.