The Offer of Love (or the Ill-Assorted Couple) (1495–96): Art, History and Details

The Offer of Love (or the Ill-Assorted Couple) (1495–96) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528).

The work and its context

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

Dürer’s early engraving of "unequal lovers" plays on a prevalent theme in northern European art in which a young woman seduces a much older man in order to steal his money. Dürer departed from standard representations of the subject and portrayed the male figure in his engraving as a willing participant, paying for the services he’s about to receive. Although scenes of unequal lovers often carry moralizing messages about the dangers of women, the idyllic setting of this image and the seemingly familiar transaction between prostitute and patron suggest a more complex situation beyond simple carnal desire.

Object facts

• Title: The Offer of Love (or the Ill-Assorted Couple)
• Date: 1495–96
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany, late 15th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Platemark: 15 x 13.9 cm (5 7/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1972.309

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse 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.