Carl Gustaf Hellqvist was one of the leading Swedish history painters of his day. He specialised in detailed, carefully worked-out historical scenes on a monumental scale. This intimate double portrait is some- thing altogether different. On a well-used palette, Hellqvist has portrayed himself alongside his fiancée, Julie Thiersch. It is an informal image, painted in Munich at Christmas 1880, possibly as a Christmas present for the artist’s parents.