The Ill-matched Couple
1517
Lucas Cranach the Elder had a field day with this awkward dynamic, painting multiple versions of this 'ill-matched couple' theme to satirize human folly. You've got a grotesque, wrinkled old man in heavy furs practically drooling over a serene, fashionable young woman in a slashed red dress. It’s a classic moral warning from the German Renaissance: a jab at foolish old men chasing youth (and the young women likely chasing their wallets). The contrast between his caricature-like face and her porcelain skin is both hilarious and slightly creepy.
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