Joos van Craesbeeck Neerlinter circa 1605 - 1654/61 Brussels

According to Cornelis de Bie (1627 - before 1716) and Arnold Houbraken (1660- 1719), chroniclers of seventeenth-century Netherlandish artists, Joos van Craesbeeck was a student of Adriaen Brouwer.  Indeed, Craesbeeck's work, characterized early in his career by his portrayals of low life subjects, his interest in depicting emotions as revealed in expressions, his use of harmonizing colors, and his technique of thinly applying glazes demonstrates Brouwer's influence.

The present picture is similar to Craesbeeck's other expressive heads, particularly to the little circular panel, A Peasant with a Hat, A Jug in his Hand, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (no. 856A).  Like the present Peasant Grimacing, which measures 10.9 cm. across, A Peasant with a Hat is small, measuring only 10 cm. in diameter.  In both panels, the artist has applied the paint in thin layers with clearly visible brushstrokes.