In Mytens' painting, it's not even clear who is giving and who is receiving the wreath.<p>> On this canvas, now part of the Royal Collection, the King is being passed a laurel wreath by his wife, as ‘a symbol of their union and a public statement of tenderness and intimacy.’<p>I've never heard of the laurel wreath as a symbol of tenderness and intimacy. In Ancient Greece, they were a symbol of skill in athletics or poetry; in Ancient Rome, they were a symbol of victory on the field of battle.