Dubbelportret van Jacob von Sandrart en Regina Christina von Sandrart before 1737

Bernhard Vogel created this double portrait engraving of Jacob von Sandrart and Regina Christina von Sandrart. Vogel captured the couple during a period in the late 17th and early 18th century when portraiture served to publicly codify social status and familial lineage. Note how the composition situates Jacob and Regina within separate, yet connected, oval frames. The rigid circles around them, inscribed with text, feel like they emphasize the constraints of marriage and gender roles in their time. Jacob's dark garb and wig signal his profession and class, while Regina's elaborate lace headdress marks her as a woman of status. Consider the emotional landscape of this portrait, it is both a commemoration of a couple and a reflection of the societal expectations that framed their lives. The image offers insight into the ways in which identity, status, and gender were carefully constructed and displayed. It reveals both the dignity and the constraints of their era.