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Original fileAn old, bearded man gestures toward a table overflowing with coins and money bags while reaching out to a young woman. The woman stands beside a young man, looking back at the elder's offer with a skeptical expression. This scene is set within a domestic interior, featuring shelves of glassware and books in the background.
This print belongs to the Haarlem Mannerist tradition of moralizing genre scenes, specifically the 'Unequal Couple' motif. It illustrates the tension between material avarice and youthful vitality, a common theme in the humanist circles of Haarlem that sought to categorize human follies through the lens of classical philosophy and natural law.
Jan sardam sculpsit Goltzijus Inuent. C. Schonaeus. Ne contemne senem munatum stulta puella, Atq[ue] tuam flectat preciosa pecunia mentem. Numos quos offers contemno, divitiasq[ue], Me nitidae, viridisf[ue] oblectat gratia formae. Laet loopen dien Wulp, hy sou’t verquisten,, al, Comt aen mijn zy, Wildy vry van rou,, zijn: Siet ick heb t’gelt, in facken en kisten,, al, En van al dees rijckdom, suldy heer en vrou,, zijn. Loop, loop, Ian Draf-broeck, ghy meucht my becoren,, niet, Ick prijs dees Ionghelinck, hem comt de scheer,, foen: Dat ick my eens keerde, of van Venus hooren,, liet, Ghy soudt segghen, ligt stil, t’sou my seer,, doen.
Translation
Jan Saenredam engraved it. Goltzius invented it. C. Schonaeus. Do not despise the aged man, foolish girl, And let precious money sway your mind. I despise the coins you offer, and the riches; The grace of a bright, verdant form delights me. Let that glutton run, he would squander everything, Come to my side, if you wish to be free from sorrow: See, I have money in pockets and in chests, And of all this wealth, you shall be lord and lady. Run, run, Jan Trot-breeches, you cannot entice me, I prize this youth, to him belongs the trimming: Should I once turn, or let myself listen to Venus, You would say, lie still, it would hurt me sorely.
Sebastian Brant
The motif of the 'mis-matched pair' is a central theme in Brant's Ship of Fools, a foundational text for Northern moralizing art.
Cornelis Schonaeus
Schonaeus, the 'Christian Terence' and rector of the Haarlem Latin School, provided the moralizing Latin verses for this engraving.
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
height 248 mm x width 274 mm
genre-scene
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.