Os Amantes Desiguais (The Unequal Lovers) - Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem

 

Os Amantes Desiguais (The Unequal Lovers) - Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem
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Óleo sobre painel - 66x70 - 1619


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. 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.