The Drunken Couple (1685): Art, History and Details

The Drunken Couple (1685) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Cornelis Dusart (Dutch, 1660–1704).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Images of intoxicated individuals were intended to be humorous, but they also had serious undertones. Moralizing texts and preachers described drinking as sinful, immoral, and a threat to social norms. Accordingly, a drunk woman, as seen here, compromised the well-being of the home, which was thought to have an impact on society as a whole.

Object facts

• Title: The Drunken Couple
• Date: 1685
• Creator attribution: Cornelis Dusart (Dutch, 1660–1704)
• Culture: Netherlands
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Platemark: 13.1 x 10.9 cm (5 3/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Sheet: 13.5 x 11 cm (5 5/16 x 4 5/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1943.560

A detail from the museum

Thatched roofs like the one depicted here were popular throughout Europe until the 1800s. Many of the thatched roofs in Europe today contain straw dating back to the 1600s.

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.