Circle of Jan Miense Molenaer (Haarlem, ca. 1610 – 1668), Genre scene

Circle of Jan Miense Molenaer (Haarlem, ca. 1610 – 1668)

Genre scene

Oil on canvas, 87 x 69 cm

Frame, 88 x 105 cm

Jan Miense Molenaer was a Dutch painter, one of the exponents of the period known as the Golden Age. His activity, which unfolded between his hometown, Haarlem, and Amsterdam, was influenced by the encounter with painters such as Rembrandt and Frans Hals. His style, initially close to that of Hals, but later, more precisely during the period of his stay in Amsterdam, closer to that of painters such as Adriaen van Ostade and Adriaen Brouwer, is characterized by a pronounced realism and a lenticular rendering of the gestures and physiognomies of the individuals represented. A genre painter, he mainly depicted musicians, but also many tavern scenes, religious scenes, and portraits. Molenaer was a cultured painter and his iconographies often appear to be inspired by the proverbs and poems of Jacob Cats and Gerbrand Adriaensz. Equally evident are the works that allude to the five senses. His works are exhibited in Amsterdam, Berlin, Braunschweig, Budapest, Copenhagen, Krakow, Florence, Ghent, Manchester, Paris, Seattle, Stockholm and Vienna.

The canvas in question presents all the key characteristics of this author's production: the predilection for the representation of colourful tavern scenes, the great importance given to the luministic dimension and to the fact of the refraction of light on the faces of the customers and on the lady's dress, the construction of a crowded scene within which characters of different social classes and from different realities meet and converse with each other, and the meticulous rendering of the physiognomic details and of the clothing.

The painting is signed and dated, J. Molenaer 1660. Although of excellent workmanship – see the rendering of the fabrics, the pottery and the careful characterization of the characters – it can be attributed to a painter active in the Master's circle.

The hand of this artist is so consistent with that of Molenaer, that in the twentieth century the work was often attributed directly to him. Often these attributions were “corroborated” by a signature that obscured the true provenance, as in the present case. However, here it is undeniable the evidence of great technical expertise that makes it a valuable work as well as representative of the most mature style of the great Molenaer.