JAN MIENSE MOLENAER | PEASANTS MAKING MERRY IN A TAVERN

Fürstin Julia Arenberg (1831 – 1919), according to a label on the reverse, by whom probably given to her friend the actor

Georg Reimers (1860 – 1936), his label on the reverse

Viktor & Edit Baerlocher, Vienna in the 1930s and from 1938 St. Gallen, Switzerland, thence by descent

Molenaer, was mainly active in Haarlem, where in 1634 he is mentioned in the register of the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke and later in Amsterdam. He married the female painter Judith Leyster and both painters shared a studio and specialized in genre subjects such as the present work. The present scene shows merry-makers in a tavern interior; a woman holding coal tongs points to her neighbour, who smilingly raises two glasses while engaging the viewer. During his career Molenaer’s style moved closer to that of another Golden Age painter, Adriaen van Ostade.