The Protestant notion that the best form of Christian life was marriage and a family helps explain the appeal of Protestantism to middle-class urban men and women, such as those shown in this domestic scene. The engraving, titled “Concordia” (Harmony), includes the biblical inscription of what Jesus called the greatest commandment — “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and your neighbor as yourself” (Deuteronomy 6; Matthew 22) — on tablets at the back. The large covered bed at the back was both a standard piece of furniture in urban homes and a symbol of proper marital sexual relations.

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