Ill-Matched Couple: Young Man and Old Woman with a Maid

This late work of the Cranach workshop, probably painted by Lucas the Younger, is ambiguous in the subject. It could be an ill-matched couple with a maid, or a scene with a young prostitute and a procuress. This cast of figures featuring client, procuress and young prostitute later appeared in numerous brothel scenes from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The most famous example is Gerard Terborch's brothel scene known as Paternal Admonition due to a misinterpretation.