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Ornament with Dance of the Lovers
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
In this image, the competitive nature of love and sexual desire plays out on treacherously thorned vines that block the young suitors from their ultimate prize, the elegant lady in the center. Given the presence of two musicians, the male suitors may be performing a type of folk dance, known as a Morris dance, which was popular in courtly circles at the time, and which relates, as well, to courtly love poetry performed by troubadours (lyrical poets of the Middle Ages).
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineOrnament with Dance of the Lovers, c. 1490. Israhel van Meckenem (German, c. 1440–1503). Engraving; sheet: 12.1 x 26.8 cm (4 3/4 x 10 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1952.532
