Hamazasp Ohanjanyan and his wife Rubina

The photograph shows Hamazasp Ohanjanyan, the first Prime Minister of the First Republic of Armenia, with his wife Rubina. Rubina is known for taking part in the assassination attempt on Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who was responsible for the genocide of the Armenians.

In 1905, at the age of 24, Rubina and her associates prepared and carried out the attempt, blowing up the sultan’s carriage with a clockwork mechanism. The sultan, however, survived.

The portrait shows an elderly couple against a curtain: the man in a suit and striped tie, the woman in a dress with a small floral print.