Double Portrait of Justinian von Holzhausen and His Wife Anna, née Fürstenberg by Conrad Faber von Kreuznach

Double Portrait of Justinian von Holzhausen and His Wife Anna, née Fürstenberg 1536

portrait

woman

11_renaissance

oil painting

portrait reference

cupid

portrait head and shoulder

animal portrait

13_16th-century

animal drawing portrait

facial portrait

portrait art

fine art portrait

celebrity portrait

digital portrait

Conrad Faber von Kreuznach's "Double Portrait of Justinian von Holzhausen and His Wife Anna, née Fürstenberg" (1536) is a captivating double portrait that displays the affluence and social status of the subjects. The painting, now housed in the Städel Museum, depicts the couple seated side-by-side, with Justinian on the left and Anna on the right. A playful Cupid sits between them, highlighting the couple's familial bond and symbolizing their love. The rich detail of their clothing and the inclusion of a landscape in the background speak to the artist's skill in portraying both the sitter's personalities and the broader social context of their lives.

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stadelmuseum over 1 year ago

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Conrad Faber was the ‘house painter’ of the Frankfurt patriciate in the first half of the sixteenth century. This double portrait holds a prominent position among his innumerable likenesses, of which many are quite formulaic in nature. Justinian von Holzhausen, a man of humanist learning, had it painted of himself and his wife. The winged Cupid is unique in painting north of the Alps. With its arrow and bunches of grapes, it invokes sensual love as the foundation of marriage – an astonishingly candid reference to sexuality for the time in which the picture was painted.