 She suggests that the painting deploys the imagery of a contract between an already married couple giving the wife the authority to act on her husband's behalf in business dealings.Carroll identifies Arnolfini's raised right hand as a gesture of oath-taking known as ""fidem levare"", and his joining hands with his wife as a gesture of consent known as ""fides manualis"".Although many viewers assume the wife to be pregnant, this is not believed to be so.