Wedding Portraits of 1645

    Hanging in the Dutch display area of the National Gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland is the wedding portrait of Susanna Bailly.  It was completed in 1645 by Frans Hals.  The hope and anticipation are evident in Susanna’s slightly vacant eyes.

     About six feet away hangs another painting by Hals.  It is the wedding portrait of Francois Wouters, Susanna’s fiancé.  He looks like he is about to face the firing squad.

     The onlooker can only imagine this couple’s future together: the tears, anger and disappointment in lost dreams and compromised futures.
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     In a world of spinsters not allowed to own property, being required to stay in convents, and enduring horrible injustices, there is one thing I know.   I would never marry a guy who looks like he is awaiting a public execution in his wedding portrait.  A bad marriage is NEVER better than being single…even in 1645.