Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem

The theme of unequal lovers has a long literary history, but in the visual arts it most often appeared in prints, usually accompanied by a moralizing inscription. The theme took two different forms, that of an old woman soliciting a handsome young man, and, more commonly, an old man soliciting a pretty young woman. Here Cornelis van Haarlem indicates the difference in ages quite subtly, adding a little grey to the man's beard.  The artist focuses instead on the mercenary aspects of the transaction, indicating the man's wealth by the fur on his cloak, the gold medal on his hat and, most obviously, by the bulging money bag that the woman squeezes suggestively.

Cornelis made several paintings of Unequal Lovers, including an interesting variant with a third figure – a young man allied with the woman – one of which was sold in these Rooms on 31 January 2013, lot 5, for $340,000. All show large figures, usually in half-length set against a nearly empty background. It was a format he used for many of his genre subjects to bring the viewer closer to the scene.

1. For further information on the provenance, including transcriptions of the Dutch notes and an English translation, see Literature, Van Thiel, p. 380.

2. The consignor of the lot is identified as "Munk" in the copy of the auction catalogue in the Kunstbibliothek der Staatlichen Museen, Berlin, Germany. Van Thiel, op. cit., felt the description in the catalogue was too brief to be certain that the picture is identical with the present work.