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A smiling young woman and an elderly man with exaggerated features embrace and gaze into each other’s eyes while a person dressed in the orange costume of a fool lurks behind them to our left in this horizontal painting. All three have pale skin and are shown from the chest up behind a ledge or tabletop against a black background. The older man to our right wears a dark teal-blue garment and a bright crimson-red head covering that drapes over both shoulders. Wrinkles and age spots cover his face, which is accentuated by a bulbous nose and a leering smile that exposes missing teeth. His arms reach out and encircle the woman to our left. Cradling the right side of her head with his right hand, his left arm reaches across to her upper body, his thumb visible at her breast. A blue and gold band holds the woman’s auburn-brown hair back. A white shift peeks through the slashed sleeves of her emerald-green, gold-trimmed gown. She reaches toward the elderly man with her right arm, her hand holding his chin. Her left arm reaches across her body under his arm and she holds a leather pouch in that hand. A man wearing an orange cap with asses’ ears reaches for the pouch, eyes crossed and his tongue protruding from the side of his mouth. Playing cards and coins lie on the ledge to our left.

Quentin Massys

Ill-Matched Lovers, c. 1520/1525

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 41

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

overall: 43.2 x 63 cm (17 x 24 13/16 in.)

framed: 61.6 x 81.3 x 7.6 cm (24 1/4 x 32 x 3 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

Accession Number

1971.55.1

Artists / Makers

Quentin Massys (artist) Netherlandish, 1466 - 1530

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Overview

The pairing of unequal couples has a literary history dating back to antiquity when Plautus, a Roman comic poet from the 3rd–century BC, cautioned elderly men against courting younger ladies. By the late–15th and early–16th centuries, the coupling of old men with young women or old women with young men had become popular themes in northern European art and literature.

This painting provides a clear illustration of the ideas that old age, especially lecherous old age, leads to foolishness—with the fool participating in the deception by helping to rob the old man's purse—and that women's sexual powers cause men to behave absurdly and to lose their wits and their money. The deck of cards may allude to competition between the sexes, morally loose or amorous behavior, and the loss and gain of money through gambling.

The painting is an example of Massys' ability to assimilate elements from both northern and Italian art. Apparently familiar with Leonardo da Vinci's grotesque drawings of physiognomy and distortion, Massys adapted the facial type for the old lecher from one of Leonardo's caricatures, and the complicated pose of the suitor from Leonardo's lost drawing of an ill–matched pair, known today through a later copy.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication Early Netherlandish Painting, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf

Provenance

Probably Steven Wils the younger [d. 1628], Antwerp.[1] Probably Herman Neyt [d. 1642], Antwerp.[2] James-Alexandre, comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier [1776-1855], Paris; his heirs; (Pourtalès-Gorgier sale, his hôtel, Paris, 27 March-4 April 1865, no. 176). Comtesse de Pourtalès;[3] Comte Edmond de Pourtalès [d. 1895], Paris, by 1888;[4] by descent to Comtesse de Pourtalès, Paris.[5] Count Bismarck, Paris and New York, by the late 1940's.[6] (Spencer A. Samuels, New York), by 1969; purchased 7 October 1971 by NGA.

[1] Inventory of 6 July 1628, no. 62. Jan Denucé, The Antwerp Art Galleries: Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries, (The Hague, 1932): 49, "Item. een stucxken van Meester Quinten, daer een honge brouwe den ouden man om de bourse vryt." Several authors, beginning with Henri Hymans, "Quentin Matsys," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2e per., 38 (1888), 205, and including Walter Cohen, Studien zu Quentin Metsys (Munich, 1904), 71-72; S. Speth-Holterhoff, Les Peintres flamands de cabinets d'amateurs au XVIIe siècle (Brussels, 1957), 16 and Andrée de Bosque, Quentin Massys (Brussels, 1975), 194, have associated the Ill-Matched Lovers with the Card Players by Massys, which was in the collection of Peeter Stevens, Antwerp, in the first half of the seventeenth century and is described in Alexander van Fornenberg's 1658 biography of Massys, Den Antwerpschen Protheus, ofte Cyclopschen Apelles.... From Van Fornenberg's careful description, which reads in part, "Het Derde is een Stuck van vier Figuren twee Mans-persoonen, ende twee Vroukens, staende om een Tafel, sijn doende met een uytheyms spel meest in Polen en Duyts-landt bekent" (quoted from J. Briels, "Amator Pictoriae Artis. De Antwerpse kunstverzamelaar Peeter Stevens (1590-1688) en zijn Constkamer," Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (1980): 192, n. 149), it is clear that another painting was in Stevens' collection.

[2] Inventory of 15-21 October 1642, no. 4. Jan Denucé, The Antwerp Art Galleries: Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries (The Hague, 1932), 94. "Een stuck van Quinten, wesende een out man met honge vrouwe ende eene sot, in ebbenhoute lyste, gen. no. 4."

[3] Unverified, but annotated in the copy of the sales catalogue in the NGA. The Getty Provenance Index cites Pillet, Escribe as the establishment where the 1865 Paris sale took place.

[4] Mentioned as owner in Henri Hymans, "Quentin Matsys," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 2e per., 38 (1888): 205.

[5] Spencer A. Samuels, in conversation 11 July 1984, stated that the painting remained with the Pourtalès family until after World War II. The comtesse may be Marguerite, daughter of Baron Arthur de Schickler who lived in Paris and Martinvast, Normandy (near Cherbourg). She married Comte Hubert de Pourtalès, and lived 1870-1956.

[6] Spencer A. Samuels, in conversation 11 July 1984 and 20 May 1985. It has not been possible to clearly identify Count Bismarck.

Associated Names

Bismarck, Count
Neyt, Herman
Pourtalès, Comtesse de
Pourtalès, Edmond de, Comte
Pourtalès-Gorgier, James-Alexandre, comte de
Sale, Paris
Samuels & Company, Ltd., Spencer A.
Wils the Younger, Steven

Exhibition History

1902: Exposition des primitifs flamands et d'art ancien, Hôtel de Gouvernement Provincial, Bruges, 1902, no.359.

Technical Summary

The painting is in good condition. There is repaint along the join of the two horizontal boards. The face and body of the fool as well as the faces of the woman and the old man contain small, scattered areas of repaint. A portion of the woman's chest, above the bodice, has been repainted, and a painted crackle pattern has also been added. The fool appears to have two pupils in his proper left eye. The pupil at the right is more like the other eyes in the painting and is probably the original. The left pupil might be a remnant of an abraded shadow or an old restoration. On the reverse, at lower right corner, is a partially destroyed red resinous seal.

Bibliography

1863: Souvenirs de la Galerie Pourtàles. Tableaux, antiques et objects d'art photographies par Goupil & Cie.. Paris, 1863:repro 20

1867: Michiels, Alfred. Histoire de la peinture flamande. 10 vols. Paris, 1867: 4:338-339.

1883: Branden, F. J. van den. Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche Schilderschool. Antwerp, 1883: 68-70.

1888: Hymans, Henri. "Quentin Matsys," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 38 (1888): 205.

1902: Hulin de Loo, Georges. Exposition de tableaux flamands des XIVe, XVe, et XVIe siècles. Catalogue critique. Exh. cat. Hôtel du Gouvernement Provincial, Bruges. Ghent, 1902: 101, no. 359.

1902: Hymans, Henri. "L'Exposition des primitifs flamands à Bruges." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 28 (1902): 303.

1903: Friedländer, Max J. "Die Brügger Leihausstellung von 1902." Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 26 (1903): 155.

1903: Friedländer, Max J. Meisterwerke der niederländischen Malerei des XV. und XVI. Jahrhunderts auf der Ausstellung zu Brügge 1902. Munich, 1903: 24, pl. 64.

1904: Cohen, Walter. Studien zu Quentin Metsys. Munich, 1904: 71-72.

1905: Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "Oeuvres satiriques de Quentin Metsys." Les Arts anciens de Flandre 1 (1905):2.

1907: Bosschère, Jean de. Quinten Metsys. Brussels, 1907: 116-117, 134.

1908: Brising, Harald. Quinten Matsys und der Ursprung des Italianismus in der Kunst der Niederlande. Leipzig, 1908: 34, 50, no. 33, pl. 42.

1921: Delen, A.J.J. De Ontwikkelingsgang de Schilderkunst te Antwerpen. Antwerp, 1921: 28-29.

1924: Friedländer, Max J. Die altniederländische Malerei 14 vols. 1924-1937. Berlin, 1934: 7:63, no. 54, pl. 51. (English ed., 14 vols., 1967-1976. Leiden, 1971: 7:33, 66, no. 54, pl. 54.)

1924: Winkler, Friedrich. Die alniederländische Malerei. Berlin, 1924: 206.

1926: Delen, A.J.J. Metsys. Brussels and Paris, 1926: 78-79, pl. 23.

1929: Friedländer, Max J. "Meister Quentins Persönlichkeit." Der Cicerone 21 (1929): 574, repro.

1931: Marle, Raimond van. Iconographie de l'art profane au Moyen-Age et à la Renaissance. 2 vols. The Hague, 1931: 2:477.

1932: Denucé, Jan. The Antwerp Art Galleries: Inventories of the Art-Collections in Antwerp in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The Hague, 1932: 49, 94.

1933: Baldass, Ludwig. "Gotik und Renaissance im Werke des Quinten Metsys." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses (Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien) N.F. 7 (1933): 150-151, 173.

1938: Wescher, Paul. "Ein `Ungleiches Liebespaar' von Hans von Kulmbach." Pantheon 22 (1938): 378.

1942: Boon, Karel G. Quentin Massys. Amsterdam, 1942: 53, repro. 56.

1947: Friedländer, Max J. "Quentin Massys as a Painter of Genre Pictures." The Burlington Magazine 89 (1947): 116.

1950: Larsen, Erik. "Un Quentin Metsys inconnu à New York." Revue Belge d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de l'Art 19 (1950): 172.

1954: Marlier, Georges. Erasme et la peinture flamande de son temps. Damme, 1954: 228-234.

1955: Mallé, Luigi. "Quinten Metsys." Commentari 6 (1955): 106.

1957: Speth-Holterhoff, S. Les Peintres flamands de cabinets d'amateurs au XVIIe siècle. Brussels, 1957: 16.

1961: Broadley, Hugh T. "The Mature Style of Quinten Massys." Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1961: 146-148, 222-223, pl. 26a.

1962: Mirimonde, Albert P. de. "Jan Massys dans les musées de province francais." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 60 (1962): 555-556, fig. 10.

1962: Puyvelde, Leo van. La peinture flamande au siècle de Bosch et Breughel. Paris, 1962: 301.

1963: Le Siècle de Bruegel: La peinture en Belgique au XVIe siècle. Exh. cat. Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, 1963: 133, no. 168.

1968: Cuttler, Charles D. Northern Painting, from Pucelle to Bruegel: Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries. New York, 1968: 423, fig. 567.

1968: Faggin, Giorgio. La pittura ad anversa nel Cinquecento. Florence, 1968: 16, fig. 13.

1969: Panofsky, Erwin. "Erasmus and the Visual Arts." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 32 (1969): 214.

1970: Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts. Catalogue descriptif. Maîtres anciens. 3d ed. Antwerp, 1970: 160, no. 566.

1970: Virdis, Caterina Limentari. "Moralismo e satira nella tardo produzione di Quentin Metsys." Storia dell'arte 20 (1970): 21, fig. 2.

1974: Pigler, Andor. Barockthemen: eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts. 3 vols. Rev. ed. Budapest, 1974: 2:568.

1974: Silver, Lawrence. "The Ill-Matched Pair by Quinten Massys." Studies in the History of Art 6 (1974): 105-123, fig. 1.

1975: Bosque, Andrée de. Quentin Massys. Brussels, 1975: 194, fig. 236.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 218, repro.

1977: Silver, Larry. "Power and Pelf: A New-Found Old Man by Massys." Simiolus 9 (1977): 68, fig. 7.

1977: Silver, Larry. "Review of Quentin Metsys by Andrée de Bosque." The Burlington Magazine 119 (1977): 444.

1979: Stewart, Alison. Unequal Lovers. A Study of Unequal Couples in Northern Art. New York, 1979: 68-71, 146, no. 18, fig. 40.

1980: Briels, J. "Amator Pictoriae Artis. De Antwerpse kunstverzamelaar Peeter Stevens (1590-1668) en zijn Constkamer." Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (1980): 192-194, fig. 25.

1984: Silver, Larry. The Paintings of Quinten Massys, with Cataloque Raisonné. Montclair, New Jersey, 1984: 10, 24, 79, 143-145, 223-224, no. 35, pl. 129.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 252, repro.

1985: Snyder, James. Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350-1575. New York, 1985: 406-407, fig. 475.

1986: Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 146-150, repro. 147.

1991: Covey, Herbert C. Images of Older People in Western Art and Society. New York, 1991: 131-133, fig. 33.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 45, repro.

1998: Boeckl, Christine M. “Sin/Sinning." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:839, 841.

1998: Nygren, Edward J. “Money." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:620.

1999: Renaissance Culture and the Everyday. ed.Patricia Fumerton and Simon Hunt, Philadelphia, 1999: 239-240, repro.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 130-131, no. 99, color repro.

2005: Snyder, James. Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575. Revised by Larry Silver and Henry Luttikhuizen. Upper Saddle River, 2005: 442, 443 fig. 18.13.