[1][2][3][4] The portraits were painted by Rembrandt upon the occasion of the wedding of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit in 1634.

They are also unusual in Rembrandt's oeuvre for their size and the fact that they show the subjects at full length.

Appearing in period inventories at regular intervals since their creation, together they form part of Rembrandt's core oeuvre against which other paintings with a more questionable lineage are compared.

The subjects Maerten Soolmans and his wife Oopjen Coppit are dressed as befits a pair of wealthy Amsterdam newlyweds.

Though most in the art world agree these paintings should remain together, it became impossible for France to keep them within its borders, as the Louvre was unable to guarantee the necessary funding required to keep the ministry of culture from providing an export permit.

A broad-brimmed black slouch hat covers his thick fair hair; he has a plump and beardless face.

She holds up in her right hand, by a gold chain, a rich fan of black ostrich feathers; with her left hand, as she descends a step, she lightly raises her handsome spotted gown of black silk with a high bodice, against which her broad and close-fitting lace collar and her lace-trimmed wristbands stand out in relief.

The format of the paintings showing the couple at full length was the most expensive form of marriage pendant and could only fit in a house with high ceilings.

For the first time since 60 years, they were exhibited at the Louvre on March 10, 2016 until June 13, then for another 3 months at the Rijksmuseum, before their restoration.

[13] The portraits were in the possession of the subjects' heirs until their sale in 1877 to Gustave Samuel de Rothschild, a French banker.

[14] Before being sold, they were hung in a large hall in the Van Loon collection, described by Eugène Fromentin in 1877 with the remark that they were examples of Rembrandt at his best and were painted in the same period that Rembrandt painted his Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, traditionally marking the beginning of his career in Amsterdam.

[15] The entire Van Loon collection was sold to Rothschild for 40,000 pounds, which at the time was over a million francs.

[16] Wilhelm von Bode was impressed enough to include both in his set of 595 photogravures for his eight-volume 1898 treatise on Rembrandt.

Fromentin and Bode had identified the paintings as portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Daey, but it was the Amsterdam historian Isabella Henriette van Eeghen who painstakingly traced their ownership to their original inventories and established the identities of the portrayed.

[17] The current joined ownership is a new arrangement for the Louvre and Rijksmuseum, and it remains to be seen whether this experiment in international art purchasing will fit into exhibition plans of both institutions.

Unlike many expensive paintings, these two will not be restricted by location and it is expected that they will be on tour regularly.

[1] The previous record for a pair of paintings was for two Titians, his Diana and Callisto and Diana and Actaeon, that also hang side by side and are today joinedly owned by the National Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland.

[3] The previous record for a painting purchase at the Rijksmuseum was for A Mayor of Delft and his Daughter by Jan Steen, for which they paid 11.9 million euro's in July 2004.