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An Old Woman Come to the Altar of Hymen to Buy Young Husband: P.14410-R-32

An image of Valentine card
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Current Location: In storage

Titles

An Old Woman Come to the Altar of Hymen to Buy Young Husband
Valentine card

Maker(s)

Printmaker: Cruikshank, Robert

Entities

Categories

Description

This etching is attributed to Robert Cruikshank. Etching with hand-colouring on one sheet of white wove paper. Central image within an oval etched frame of an old woman kneeling beside two large bags of money (£20,000 + £10,000) imploring a young gentleman who stands beside the figure of Hymen. Engraved verse around the central frame: "Young Hymen dreads not Love's Alarms, / When Age has Thirty Thousand Charms". An engraved outer border design of garlands of flowers, quivers of arrows, bows and a flaming torch. The title is printed on a fringed swag at lower centre: AN OLD WOMAN, COME TO / THE ALTAR OF HYMEN, TO / BUY A YOUNG HUSBAND. This card was included in the exhibition of valentine cards, _For ever thine: the nineteenth century valentine_, held in the Charrington Print Room at the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1995, no. 10. A graphite number "10" is written onto the album leaf in the lower right-hand corner, which corresponds to the numbering of the catalogue.

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Dr J. W. L. Glaisher, 1928

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

19th Century
Production date: circa AD 1830

School or Style

British

Techniques used in production

Hand colouring
Etching

Identification numbers

Accession number: P.14410-R-32
Primary reference Number: 214607

Audit data

Created: Tuesday 14 February 2017 Updated: Tuesday 26 March 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "An Old Woman Come to the Altar of Hymen to Buy Young Husband" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/214607 Accessed: 2025-12-11 05:22:53

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/214607 |title=An Old Woman Come to the Altar of Hymen to Buy Young Husband |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-11 05:22:53|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">An Old Woman Come to the Altar of Hymen to Buy Young Husband</figcaption>
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