“Marriage License”

THERE CAN BE LITTLE DOUBT THAT this is one of Rockwell's finest works. The idea behind it is simple enough: The artist contrasts the young couple applying for a marriage license with the elderly clerk who has seen it all a thousand times before. But the scene is evoked with such affection that it becomes suffused with complex resonances.

The old clerk occupies an office that, like him, seems to belong to the past. It contains rows of dusty volumes and an ornate potbellied stove. Paint is peeling from the dingy walls and cigarette butts are scattered on the floor. But the tall sash window lets in the early-summer light, which falls on the young couple, bathing them in its glow and causing them to stand out from their surroundings.

Their concentration on the task at hand is such that the surroundings have no meaning for them anyway. In this composition the play of darkness and light is used both to create the architecture of the painting and to produce an emotional effect on the viewer.

Everything about this painting seems just right. Artists are notoriously critical of their own work, but in this instance, it is impossible to think that Rockwell cannot have been satisfied with the result of his labors.