968 - Flemish

Flemish After 1610 26,5 x 36,5 cm Peasant Joy. Using tongs, flail, spear and knive, peasants drive a wealthy family from their home. Oil/panel,on reverse a stamp in the shape of a coat of arms. Southern German private collection. The painting, one of the few painted depictions of this subject, was based on a plate from the 1610 series of engravings by the Amsterdam publisher Claes Jansz. Visscher and the engraver Boetius Adamsz. Bolswert, which in turn was based on a mirror-inverted painting by David Vinckboons (1576-1632). Bolswert’s four engravings first show the rich forcibly breaking into a farmhouse with the help of mercenaries. This is followed by an interior view of the farmhouse with noble, boisterous revellers living off the peasants, and then - as the third plate and the model for the present scene - the peasants take their revenge on their wealthy occupiers and drive them out of the house. Finally, everyone celebrates together, reconciled, in the open air. The figures in each part of the sequence are different, so that each scene stands on its own. Thus, this painting can be understood even without the other three. The unknown painter of this work did not follow Vinckboon’s shimmering, restless technique in oil, but rather translated the black-and-white engraving into the boldly coloured, striking style of a Pieter Balten (1524-1587) or Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526/30-1569) or the Younger (1564-1638). Mit einem Gutachten von Dr. Ursula Härting, 2012.