Beskrivning: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 90: 

Technical notes: This painting has been transferred
from a panel to a canvas. The transfer probably took
place in France in view of the labels in French affixed to
the back of the canvas. The current support consists of a
piece of densely woven plain weave fabric mounted on a
non-original stretcher. There is no visible cusping as the
painting was prepared on the panel. This comprised a
white chalk ground that has been applied thickly and
evenly and a flesh coloured imprimatura. The ground
totally covers the structure of the supporting material.
The colour layer is thin and applied semi-transparently.
The painting is lavish and detailed in the execution of the
figures. Infra-red inspection revealed small adjustments
to the left shoulder, hand and arm of the figure standing
in the open door in the work. An ultra-violet inspection
disclosed a number of retouches from various periods,
among them on the right of the painting. The painting
underwent conservation treatment in 1933, 1956 and
2001.

Provenance: Gustav III 1792, no. 90; KM 1795, no.
162; KM 1816, no. 263.

Exhibited: Stockholm (travelling exhib.) 1956, p. 14.

Bibliography: Sander II, p. 110, no. 90; Göthe 1887,
p. 104; Göthe 1893, p. 128; Granberg 1911, no. 402, p.
88; NM Cat. 1958, p. 90; Legrand 1963, p. 175; NM
Cat. 1990, p. 166.

Legrand notes that this scene from a beer-house
belongs to the first group of the artist’s works in which
influences can be traced from Teniers in particular, as
well as from Brouwer, Ryckaert and Van Tilborch in
the rendering of the figures.1 Legrand also points to
the dramatic elements in the work, among them the
almost histrionic gesture of the man depicted at its
centre. The painting, which formed part of Gustav
III’s collection, was transferred to the Nationalmuseum’s
predecessor, the Royal Museum, in 1795. This
small format work is signed “M V Héllemont F:”. In
its palette and the rendering of the figures resemblances
can be noted in this painting to the interiors of
David Teniers II and Adriaen Brouwers. Van Helmont
drew inspiration from the genre paintings of both
artists for some time.

In the foreground of the work a man drinking beer
is depicted, his mouth open either to swallow the beverage
or in song, his feet wide apart, he is making an
extrovert, dramatic gesture. Using a classic singer’s or
speaker’s gesture and with his tankard in the other
hand, he focuses his attention on the viewer, who is
invited to participate. One of his feet rests on a wooden
box. His clothes are lighter in hue than those of the
other figures and this emphasises his central role in
the painting. Behind him a number of peasants are
depicted at a table on which a sheet of paper is lying.
One of the men at the table is holding a clay pipe while
another is raising his glass to salute a woman peering
into the picture from a window into a neighbouring
room. A woman in an apron can be seen in an open
doorway in the background. In other respects the
room is spartan with its bare whitewashed walls and
lack of furniture. In front of the central figure is a large
pitcher of beer and in the foreground lies a clay pipe.
Motifs from beer-houses with peasants drinking, playing
cards, smoking and making music were popular in
17th century Flanders. Earlier scholars have often
linked these motifs to some moralistic content. They
have been considered to offer warnings against profligate
lives with drunkenness and amorous and hollow
activities. The links with the vanitas themes of the
period are also important in this context.
KS

1 See Legrand 1963, p. 175. Legrand also includes in this group of paintings
by Van Helmont the signed work L’intérieur de ferme in the Mallmann
collection in Vienna, La Scène de cabaret in the Musée de Gand and
Les Joueurs de cartes in Musées de Bergues.[End]

Bondfolk i en ölstuga