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The Ill-Matched Marriage (also known as The Marriage Contract) is an oil painting by a follower of the early Netherlandish master Quentin Matsys, usually dated between 1525 and 1530. The panel, probably inspired by an original lost drawing of Leonardo da Vinci, illustrates a marriage for economic reasons between persons of different ages. The painting is in the São Paulo Museum of Art. It was donated to the museum in 1965 by the Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.[1]

Ill-Matched Marriage (The Marriage Contract)
Artist	Follower of Quentin Matsys
Year	1525–1530
Medium	Oil on panel
Dimensions	54 cm × 89 cm (21 in × 35 in)
Location	São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil

Context and iconography

Many artists depicted the theme of marriage between people of differing age. Goya, Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder dedicated works and studies to this subject. The representation of an old man marrying a younger woman is more common, but here Matsys depicts the opposite: a rich old woman marries a young man. Matsys made another version with the man older, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

Being caressed by the young man, the old woman offers him a wedding ring with her right hand and opens her bag, smoothed by the man's left hand. The mockery, hypocrisy and foolishness of the scene is highlighted by the burlesque features of the characters and, in particular, by the figure at right, shown putting the necklace spread on the table inside a box.

The "grotesque marriage" is also present in the satirical literature, as in the poem Ship of Fools by Sebastian Brant (1494), which in its 52nd chapter tackles the "marriage-for-money" theme. The subject is treated by Erasmus of Rotterdam in his The Praise of Folly (1509).

References

На других языках

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- [en] Ill-Matched Marriage

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[es] Matrimonio mal emparejado

El matrimonio mal emparejado (a veces llamado El contrato de matrimonio) es una notable pintura al óleo sobre madera del artista renacentista flamenco Quinten Massys, generalmente fechada entre 1525 y 1530. La obra, probablemente inspirada en un original perdido de Leonardo da Vinci,[1] aborda un tema recurrente de la crítica social en la historia del arte: el matrimonio por razones económicas (hipergamia, del francés, mésalliance) entre personas de diferentes edades. Actualmente se conserva en el Museo de Arte de São Paulo (MASP). Fue donado al museo en 1965 por el barón Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza.

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