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  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

    Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

    Through September 5

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    America’s 250th

    Celebrating American art and artists

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Support
  • Shop
  • Become a Member

  • Visit

    • Plan Your Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Visiting with Kids
    • Food and Drink
    • Tours and Guides
    • Explore the Campus

    Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

    Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

    Through September 5

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events

    America’s 250th

    Celebrating American art and artists

  • Art & Artists

    • Artworks
    • Artists
    • Stories
    • Fun and Games
    • Educational Resources
    • Research

    Open Call

    Artists Reimagining the Collection

    Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

Utility

  • Support
  • Shop
  • Become a Member

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  • Open 10:00–5:00
  • See extended hours

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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, oil on panel, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 1971.55.1

    Ill-Matched Lovers

    Ill-Matched Lovers

    Quentin Massys · c. 1520/1525 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1971.55.1

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