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The portraits, which date back to 1634, depict trader Marten
Soolmans and his wife Oopjen Coppit and were painted for their
wedding.
The artworks were bought by Baron Gustave de Rothschild in 1877
and have been in France since then.
Pijbes told Dutch radio broadcaster BNR that the portraits were
valued at 160 million euros ($185 million), calling the purchase
a “realistic dream”. He said the museum was in talks with
financiers.
More than 2.4 million visitors flocked to the Rijksmuseum in
2014 to view its collection, which also includes Rembrandt's
most famous work, "The Nightwatch."
In July, the Rijksmuseum obtained a sixteenth century archers'
collar - a piece of decorated silver awarded to the winner of an
annual archery contest. The Rothschild family had sold it to a
private buyer in Paris, who donated it to the museum.
($1 = 0.8656 euros)
(Reporting By Yoruk Bahceli; Editing by Anthony Deutsch and
Dominic Evans)
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