* David Teniers the Younger Antwerp 1610 - 1690 Brussels

Lord Charles Townshend, London;
By whom sold, London, Christies, April 11 1835, lot 20;
Adrian Hope (died 1863), Esquire;
By whom sold, London, Christies, June 30 1894, lot 18 (as by Brueghel de Velours and David Teniers);
K. Ooms-Van Eersel, Antwerp;
By whom sold, Antwerp, May 1922, lot 193;
J.F. Leitner;
By whom sold, Sotheby's at the Château de Cleydael, Aartselaar, Belgium, October 13-14 1987, lot 478, as Abraham Teniers;
Where aquired by Johnny van Haeften, London;
Anonymous sale ("Property of a Private Collector"), New York, Sotheby's, January 28, 1999, lot 264;
There purchased by the present collector.

At the time of the 1999 sale (see Provenance below) the present painting was examined by Margret Klinge and will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist, David Teniers der Jüngere-Kritisches Verzeichnis der Gemälde. The present Festival of Monkeys, dated 1633, is considered to be an early work by Teniers, probably painted when he first entered the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp. 

Monkeys have been used, since antiquity, to parody the actions of man.  While Klinge believes that this scene illustrates a moral lesson depicting the excess of food, drink and sartorial pleasure, the monkey-soldiers do not appear to be bringing dishonor of any kind to the reputation of 17th Century soldiers.  They are shown eating and drinking, or cleaning their weapons, or playing instruments in an orderly fashion during this bivouac outside an inn.  The monkey-soldiers even seem to be adhereing to the motto affixed to the grey tent, Bon Vin Day .