A young man caressing an old woman

Etcher Wenceslaus Hollar Bohemian
 After Leonardo da Vinci Italian
 Relates to collection of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel (British, 1585–1646) and Aletheia Talbot, Countess of Arundel (British, ca. 1590–1654), m. 1606 British

Not on view

The source for this image depicting an amorous young man and older woman was attributed to Leonardo, who obsessively represented pairs of contrasting physiognomies: youths of ideally perfect beauty often face elderly types with physical deformities. Though the inscription on the print confirms the original work was in the Earl of Arundel’s collection, a drawing with this figural composition by Leonardo does not survive. In the master’s writings of the early 1490s, he quoted Petrarch underneath a sketch of a grotesque woman, "What is fair in mortal beings passes and does not last

A young man caressing an old woman, Wenceslaus Hollar (Bohemian, Prague 1607–1677 London), Etching, only state

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