The Unequal Couple (The Love Application)

Unknown artist

The artist copied Dürer’s engraving “The Unequal Couple,” which emerged around 1498, also known as “The Love Application,” from the opposite side. In doing so, he clearly oriented himself towards the template. The central figure is an old man who meets with a considerably younger woman on a hill away from the city. He already tied his horse to a tree and settled next to her. On closer inspection, the woman is to be identified as a married Nuremberg woman with honorable standing (see Schoch I.32.3). She has already opened her purse and stretches her hand towards the old, who in turn nestles in his own to pay. Later prints are enclosed in the middle of the monogram Dürer. In his publication of 1827, Heller questioned whether it was - as Bartsch claimed - a copy of Marcantonio Raimondis (1480-1534) (cf. Heller Dürer 1827 II.484,892). The printing plate that the Bamberg collector was able to purchase is now owned by the State Library Bamberg (cf. KupferDie 1), where it was removed until the middle of the 20th century.