ANON (Nineteenth-Century) – The Wedding Dress; a Commitment before an altar.

This beautifully painted and unusual portrait has been with us once before. But its exact 'meaning' is still elusive... Part portrait, part record of a dress, it also commemorates an act of religious devotion. Had the woman's shoulders been covered, we might have considered it a Confirmation portrait. Standing alone at the altar, is the woman displaying her commitment to God ahead of her marriage? Or is this a symbolic marrying into the church - a celebration of conversion, or a commitment to celibacy?

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