Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

Unequal Lovers

Artist/Maker Pieter de Grebber (The Netherlands, ca. 1600-ca. 1653)

Dateca. 1650

Mediumoil on canvas

DimensionsSight: 57 3/4 x 42 in. (146.7 x 106.7 cm)
Framed: 57 3/4 x 42 in. (146.7 x 106.7 cm)

ClassificationsVisual Works

Credit LineGift of Colonel C. Michael Paul

Terms

Object number68.129.003

On View

On view

Collections

Art of Europe

DescriptionBoth the subject matter and artist of this comic and highly theatrical painting have long eluded scholars of seventeenth-century Dutch art. Likely produced in the circle of Haarlem painter Pieter de Grebber, an artist who worked for the Dutch court in The Hague, this painting depicts “unequal lovers,” a popular satirical subject in northern European art and literature. Here the mismatched lovers are an old woman (not a nun) and a young, foolish man, although most typically such images pair an old man with a young woman. With moralizing as well as comic intent, works with this subject expose the folly of those who seek inappropriate sexual partners. The older figures in these parodied relationships desire youth and beauty, while the younger partners are generally characterized as interested only in money, as contained in the chest held by the man in the painting.
Visual Description

In this vertical, seventeenth-century oil painting, a pallid young man with a wooden chest under one arm is grabbed from behind by an older woman in a black cloak and headcover. The young man stands at our left, chewing his downturned lower lip, wide eyes looking directly at us. He wears a fuzzy brown hat, a blue satin coat, several leather pouches, and a sword. Behind him, on our right, is the older woman, flush patches on her light-skinned cheeks. With her hands buried in the folds of his clothing, she pulls him back, biting the patterned hem of his coat.