Ill matched lovers - Flemish School of the 17th century

This work is attributed to the circle of David Vinckboons, seventeenth century. In the art trade, “circle of” refers to a work from the same period that shows the artist’s influence, made by someone from his circle.
David Vinckboons (Mechelen, baptised 13 August 1576 – Amsterdam, c. 1632) was an important painter of the early seventeenth century. According to Karel van Mander he had no teacher other than his father Philip, who painted on canvas with watercolours, an art form practised mainly in Mechelen. Around 1591 the family settled in Amsterdam. Later David lived, like many artists, in the Sint Antoniesbreestraat.
He was influenced by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and, together with Hans Bol and Roelant Savery, played an important part in the development of genre painting in the Northern Netherlands. He specialised in elegant figures in park-like landscapes (Buitenpartij (Outdoor Merry Company), 1610, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna) and in kermises and other village festivals. He was among the first to take such gatherings out of a biblical setting and turn them into a contemporary genre scene. His compositions were so popular that they were often engraved.


We see a couple in the right foreground. The man appears to be a hunter: at his hip he carries a bag and we see the barrel of a gun. His hat has fallen off, so that we can see his grey hair and balding crown. He speaks passionately to a young woman with red lips. She wears a white cap and collar and a red chemise, rests a hand on her breast and holds a jug in her other hand. A small dog sits beside them. The couple sit in nature, set apart from the village that we can make out in the background. On the right we see a castle with a stepped gable and a spire, a stone bridge and a well, and birds fly in the evening sky.
The subject is that of the ill-matched couple, a popular satirical theme in Northern European art. It found its way from literature into the visual arts in the late fifteenth century and condemned immoral motives. The best-known example is Ill-Matched Lovers by Quentin Massys (c. 1520-1525, Washington, National Gallery of Art). There an old man gazes lovingly at a young woman, without noticing that, with an accomplice, she is stealing his purse. The painting shows that old age can make one foolish. The bag at the man’s hip may perhaps point to a purse here.

Oil on panel
Dimensions: 21 x 27 cm, 35 x 40 cm (framed)