
The Offer of Love (or the Ill-Assorted Couple)
1495–96
- Medium
- engraving
- Dimensions
- 15 × 13.9 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-214904
Dürer’s early engraving of "unequal lovers" plays on a prevalent theme in northern European art in which a young woman seduces a much older man in order to steal his money. Dürer departed from standard representations of the subject and portrayed the male figure in his engraving as a willing participant, paying for the services he’s about to receive. Although scenes of unequal lovers often carry moralizing messages about the dangers of women, the idyllic setting of this image and the seemingly familiar transaction between prostitute and patron suggest a more complex situation beyond simple ca…
Provenance
Prasse Collection, 1972.309
Registry history
- 1495–96 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — prints
Registered on Collect24
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