Hendrick ter Brugghen

Unequal Lovers

The Unequal Lovers theme traditionally depicted the folly of old men with young women. However, the present work offers a twist on the traditional theme: a close examination of his eye socket reveals that the man is wearing a hooked nose mask to which the grey beard is attached – a type of disguise familiar from contemporary images of commedia dell’arte So the masque is actually a young man who only assumes the guise of an old lecher. Clever!