During the 17th century, the great economic and cultural growth of the Dutch Republic led to a rise in portraiture. The Dutch higher classes seemed eager to acquire portraits that would capture their image in eternity. One particular type was the marriage portraits, consisting of two pendant paintings of the married couple. These two examples were created by the famous portraitist of the period, Johannes Verspronck. The attention to the clothes and their rich texture shows that the couple was wealthy belonging to the upper parts of society. The dark background is used to place emphasis on the clothes and the sitters themselves; their faces, their hands, their postures. Conventions on gender roles are obeyed. The man in an active stance comes forward as the powerful party, while the woman is represented more restraint and obedient clasping her hands. The paintings would face each other. The portrait of the woman was usually placed on the right so that the man would appear as having her at his left side, another indication of the position of the wife inside the marriage. [http://arthistoryattacks.blogspot.nl/2011/01/] ...Who the man and woman in the paintings are unknown, but it is clear that a married couple is pictured here. Verspronck also painted their daughter: the famous Girl in Blue (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).... A Family Tragedy More than 40 family portraits come to life in the Lief en Leed exhibition. The portraits are by no means always truthful; children or wives are later repainted, deceased relatives are presented as living figures, or figures are painted away. Behind every portrait is a story. Together they tell about the love and suffering of family life. Also in the unknown family of Verspronck, a family tragedy took place. Verspronck also painted the portrait of the grandfather of the girl and the whole family was in the collection of the dukes of Oldenborg. Grand Duke Friedrich August van Oldenborg was forced to sell part of the painting collection in 1922. At the sale the Girl in Blue was separated from her parents. Totally alone, she went to the Rijksmuseum's gallery of honor while her parents and grandfather left for the United States. After a bit of wandering, the father and mother ended up in Enschede, when Gerrit Jan van Heek Jr. donated the portraits to the museum. [Google translation of text at https://www.rijksmuseumtwenthe.nl/content/2207/nl/restauratie-verspronck] See also Girl in Blue (http://curiator.com/art/johannes-cornelisz-verspronck/girl-in-a-blue-dress) and Portrait of a Woman, 1640 (http://curiator.com/art/johannes-cornelisz-verspronck/portrait-of-a-woman)