Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Title: Bridal Pair
  • Creator:
  • Description: Two young newlyweds (indicated by their rings and the circlets on their heads) embrace. The blossoming flowers and the lush green setting speak to their youth and fertility. However, this panel was once joined to another that depicts two corpses being eaten by snakes. Together the panels constituted a memento mori, a reminder to the viewer that all life, no matter how beautiful, ends in death and decay.
  • Source: Wikimedia Commons
  • Rights: Public domain
  • Subject (See Also): Marriage in Art Memento mori
  • Geographic Area: Germany
  • Century: 15
  • Date: ca. 1470
  • Related Work: Rotting Pair (Strasbourg, Musée de l’Oeuvre Notre-Dame) http://karine.lanini.free.fr/genealogievanite_fichiers/image064.jpg
  • Current Location: Cleveland, Museum of Art, 1932.179
  • Original Location:
  • Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Paintings
  • Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Tempera; Wood
  • Donor:
  • Height/Width/Length(cm): 35.5 cm/ 14"/64.5 cm/ 25.4"/
  • Inscription:
  • Related Resources: