Quentin Matsys - The ugly duchess

• Title: The ugly duchess
• Artist: Quentin Matsys (1466-1530)
• Date: 1513
• Medium: Oil on oak panel
• Dimensions: 62 x 46 cm

The painting “The ugly duchess” is an old woman with wrinkled skin and withered breasts holds in her right hand a red flower, then a symbol of engagement, indicating that she is trying to attract a suitor; however, it likely is a bud that will never blossom.

The painting was probably intended to satirize old women who try inappropriately to recreate their youth. Da Vinci and Matsys exchanged drawings of caricatured old women and it is not sure who inspired whom. The caricature was the basis for the Duchess in Alice in Wonderland.