The six centuries-old art history rules hidden in their engagement photo

Aramie

5. ceremony

Lawrence Alma Tadema, Conclusion of the former, 1885

The sense of suspense is skillfully recognized and manipulated by London-based Dutch artist Lawrence Alma Tadema in the fascinating enactment of the moment just before the proposal. As the title of the painting guarantees, the result of the subsequent encounter may be a “natural conclusion,” but this work sees the uneasy thinking of a young man rising up the stairs towards us, staring nervously at the ring he carries, and as we spy on him from the front of Urun, surrounded by him. Many may have thought that the Swift/Kelce moment came and the result was a natural conclusion, but it is delightful to see the ceremony unfold in real time.

Metropolitan Museum

6. Calm

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The Proposal, 1879

There is an unmistakable passion in the proposed photograph, but it is a passion that shines through the prism of quiet calm, reminiscent of the setting proposed by 19th century French academic painter William Adolf Bougerault in his 1879 work. Here, Bougelow depicts a serious suitor who passes through the window and leaned towards a young woman on a spinning wheel. Their costumes were thought to recall the story of Goethe’s Faust, so they were therefore spun in abandoned in, but the drama is surprisingly calm. The emotions are balanced. Regardless of the uproar, there is an impressive calm.

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