Why it matters
A grotesque old woman wears the horned headdress of her youth and holds a red flower, a symbol of engagement, as if trying to attract a suitor. It is Metsys's best-known painting.
Did you know?
- It was painted around 1513.
- It was long thought to derive from a lost work by Leonardo.
- Erasmus's In Praise of Folly may have influenced it.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Ugly Duchess (CC BY-SA 4.0).
