A young man greeting an elderly woman.

Drawing, red chalk (sanguine), 18,7 x 17,2 cm, laid paper with watermark ca. 1580 (Briquet: 9323 or 9327), unsigned (diagonal folds at upper left corner, tear at lower right corner with sl. loss of image, sl. loss of paper surface at gentleman's knee and arm, sl. soiled).

A young gentleman in rich clothing talking to or greeting an older woman. A laughing boy is seen standing behind him, together with two other mocking boys. The scene is perhaps a representation of the unequal lovers, where a younger man is seduced by an elderly woman. Style, clothing and watermark all point towards a Netherlandish master working in the early seventeenth century.