Portrait of a Couple

Said to be John Tradescant the elder and his wife Elizabeth painted sometime in the 1640s, although the identification of both sitters remains doubtful. Both however wear wide brimmed hats, the woman has a fine linen kerchief over another more substantial piece of linen and a coif tied at the throat with strings. Her partner has a plain falling band with tassels on his band strings. Both are dressed sombrely in what was probably their Sunday best and seem the epitome of what we would see as well to do puritans, though this style of dress wouldn’t have denoted a religious leaning to anyone at the time. They are just smart clothes. Picture is  © 2011 University of Oxford – Ashmolean Museum