The Ill-Matched Couple
Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ill-Matched Couple is a 1532 oil painting by the German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder. It was owned by Maximilian I of Bavaria until 1632, when Swedish troops captured it in a raid on Munich and thus is now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.[1]
| The Ill-Matched Couple | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Lucas Cranach the Elder |
| Year | 1532 |
| Medium | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 108 cm × 119 cm (43 in × 47 in) |
| Location | |
It shows a wizened old man paying a young woman. She is depicted in a seductive neckline, which suggests he may be paying her for sexual services. The grapes and pomegranate in front of the couple symbolize desire and fertility. The scale in her hand alludes to the Last Judgment, when according to the Bible everyone will be judged according to their deeds. The subject was a popular one and Cranach frequently returned to it, occasionally reversing it to a young husband and an old wife.
Similar works by Cranach
| Image | Date | Technique | Dimensions (cm) | Collection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1517 | oil on panel | 27,3 x 18 | Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona[2] |
 | 1520–1522 | oil on beechwood | 37 x 31 | Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest[3][4] |
.jpg) | 1522 | oil on beechwood | 84,5 x 63,6 | Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest[5] |
_-_1465_-_Bavarian_State_Painting_Collections.jpg) | 1528 | oil on beechwood | 76,8 x 56,8 | Fränkische Galerie, Kronach[6] |
.jpg) | c. 1525–1530 | oil on beechwood | 31,5 x 23 | Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt[7] |
 | c. 1525–1530 | oil on limewood | 87 x 60 | Alte Pinakothek, Munich[8] |
_-_Ill-Matched_Lovers_(National_Galery,_Prague).jpg) | c. 1530 | oil on beechwood | 38.1 x 25,1 | National Gallery, Prague[9] |
 | c. 1530 | oil on panel, later transferred to canvas | 79 x 57,5 | Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie, Besançon[10] |
 | c. 1530 | oil on limewood | 86,7 x 58,5 | Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg[11] |
_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg) | c. 1530 | oil on beechwood | 38,8 × 25,7 | Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf[12] |
 | 1531 | oil on beechwood | 51 x 36 | Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna[13] |
 | 1537 | tempera and oil on panel | 75,5 x 48,5 | National Museum, Warsaw |
.jpg) | c. 1530–1540 | oil on limewood | 19,5 × 14,5 | Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna[14] |
.jpg) | c. 1540 | oil on panel | 91 x 61 | Veste Coburg, Coburg[15] |
 | c. 1537–1545 | oil on panel | 85,7 x 59 | National Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi[16] |