1028 - Pieter de Bloot

Pieter de Bloot Farmers outside a tavern on a village street Oil on panel. 37 x 55 cm. Signed lower left on the fence: P. DE BLOOT. Provenance Baron Albert von Oppenheim, Cologne. – Lepke, Berlin, 19.3.1918, lot 4. – Parke-Bernet, New York, 2.12.1938, Lot 58A. – Passed down to the current owners in German private collection. Literature E. Molinier: Collection du baron Albert Oppenheim, tableaux et objets d'art. Paris 1904, no. 2, ill. II. - H. Helbing: Collection Baron Albert Oppenheim, Cöln, vol 1: Gemälde: Versteigerung in Berlin in Rudolph Lepke's Kunst-Auctions-Haus, 27. Oktober 1914, Berlin 1914, p. 24, plate 4. – Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc: Valuable Paintings. Property of the Estates of Harold W. Hack [...], 2. Dezember 1938, New York 1938, p. 45, lot 58A, ill. In his peasant village, Pieter de Bloot brings the rustic society to life with a fine brush. n broad daylight, villagers of all ages give themselves over to revelry in front of the thatched tavern on the village square. A hurdy-gurdy player, surrounded by children, provides the music, while at the tables pipes are smoked cheerfully and, above all, drink is taken. For some, like the man in red in the middle ground, it is one drink too many. De Bloot, a peasant painter active in Rotterdam, also integrated landscapes and still-life elements into his colourful depictions of Dutch village culture. In this picture he signed with remarkably fine yellow brushstrokes on the fence lying on the ground at left. For all the roughness of manners on display, he uses the same finest brush hairs for his character studies of the villagers, setting them in lively interaction with one another and with the viewer.