#devotional

The odd name comes from the Cowper family, who used to own it — nothing to do with the subject. Like a lot of British collections, it eventually made its way into an American museum in the early 1900s.

Apparently X-rays show he first painted the two of them sitting upright and stiff, almost like a formal icon, before loosening it into this warmer, cuddled-up pose.

The candles in this one apparently weren't just decorative — real ones were meant to burn in front of it, so the painted flames would blur together with the real light in a dim room.