David Teniers II DPG106, DPG110
DPG106 – A Peasant holding a Glass
DPG110 – A Peasant
1640s; copper, both 8.5 × 6.6 cm
Both monogrammed: DT.F (DT in monogram)
DPG106
DPG110
PROVENANCE
?Insurance 1804, no. 34 and no. 35 (‘A Peasant – Teniers · £30’ or ‘Ditto – Ditto. £30’); Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 1, no. 7.8 (‘Small parlour / no. 7.9; Two small heads – Copper – Teniers’; 10" × 9").
REFERENCES
DPG106 – A Peasant holding a Glass
Cat. 1817, p. 18, no. 348 (‘FIFTH ROOM – North Side; Head of a Man; D. Teniers’); Haydon 1817, p. 400, no. 348 (David Teniers II);1 Cat. 1820, p. 18, no. 348; Cat. 1830, p. 8, no. 148; Jameson 1842, ii, p. 466, no. 148; Denning 1858, no. 148 (David Teniers II; companion to 149 [= DPG110]); Denning 1859, no. 148; Sparkes 1876, p. 174, no. 148; Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 161, no. 148 (David Teniers I, ‘formerly ascribed to Teniers the Younger’); Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 27, no. 106; Cook, 1914, p. 64, no. 106; Cook 1926, p. 60; Cat. 1953, p. 39 (David Teniers I); Murray 1980a, p. 126 (David Teniers II; ‘Formerly attributed to Teniers I’); Murray 1980b, p. 28; Beresford 1998, p. 232;2 Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 248–9, 266; RKD, no. 290145: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290145 (June 15, 2018).
DPG110 – A Peasant
Cat. 1817, p. 17, no. 341 (‘FIFTH ROOM – North Side; Head of an old Woman; D. Teniers’); Haydon 1817, p. 399, no. 341;3 Cat. 1820, p. 17, no. 341; Cat. 1830, p. 8, no. 149; Jameson 1842, ii, p. 466, no. 149;4 Denning 1858, no. 149 (David Teniers II; companion to 148 [= DPG106]); Denning 1859, no. 149; Sparkes 1876, p. 174, no. 149 (Head of an old woman); Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 161, no. 149 (David Teniers I, ‘formerly ascribed to Teniers the Younger’); Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 28, no. 110; Cook 1914, p. 66, no. 110; Cook 1926, p. 62; Cat. 1953, p. 39 (David Teniers I); Murray 1980a, p. 126 (David Teniers II); Murray 1980b, p. 28; Beresford 1998, p. 232 (‘A peasant’);5 Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 248–9, 266; RKD, no. 290146: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290146 (June 15, 2018).
TECHNICAL NOTES
DPG106 – A Peasant holding a Glass
The copper panel has undulations from hand-beaten preparation. Grey ground layer. The paint layer is generally in good condition, with some minor scrapes and a few small retouchings. There are some small chipped paint losses at the bottom centre. Previous recorded treatment: 1949–53, conserved, Dr Hell; 2006, cleaned and restored, N. Ryder.
DPG110 – A Peasant
The support of this painting is a slightly bumpy copper panel, with an illegible inscription on the reverse. The condition of the paint film is very good, although there is a little thinness in the half-tones. There are a few small retouchings, including what appears to be an old, slightly raised restoration above the peasant’s hat. The paint at the panel edges bears a few minor damages: there are some small chipped losses to the top left and bottom right corners. On top of the paint layers there is a natural resin varnish, which appears darkest and most discoloured where it has been hidden under the frame rebate; this indicates, possibly, that at some point the work was cleaned while still in its frame. Previous recorded treatment: 1953, conserved, Dr Hell; 2006, cleaned and restored, N. Ryder.
RELATED WORKS
1a) (pendant of 1b) David Teniers II, A Peasant, monogrammed DT·F, black chalk, 120 × 85 mm. Private collection, Paris [1].6
1b) (pendant of 1a) David Teniers II, A Peasant, monogrammed DT·F, black chalk, 120 × 85 mm. Private collection, Paris [2].7
2) David Teniers II, A Peasant, pencil, 197 × 157 mm. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2118/1863 [3].8
3) David Teniers II, Two Peasants with a Glass of Wine, c. 1645, panel, 23.2 × 18.1 cm. NGA, Washington, 1992.27.1.9
4) David Teniers II, Drinker and Smoker, monogrammed D T F., panel, 15.5 × 13.5 cm. Louvre, Paris, M.I. 996.10
5) David Teniers II, Two Peasants (half-figures), monogrammed DT·F, panel, 18 × 13 cm. Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 889-5-2.11
6) David Teniers II, Two Walking Peasants (half-figures), panel, 12.8 × 10.7 cm. Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, 198 [4].12
Both pictures were originally attributed to David Teniers I; Denning in 1858 gave them to David Teniers II; from 1880 to 1980 they were reattributed to the elder Teniers; in 1980 Murray assigned them again to David Teniers II. It seems likely that they were painted some time in the 1640s. The earliest record of this kind of small tronie – a face or figure painting (see under DPG628, ‘Rembrandt’) – on metal is in an Antwerp probate inventory of 1640, where some after Teniers are mentioned, significantly, with some after Adriaen Brouwer:13 the works of the two artists were seen as closely related.
DPG110 has been described as showing an old woman rather than a man: this seems unlikely, given the costume and the stubble on the face. The figure holds what might be a flute, but is surely the stem of a pipe: the two figures are a smoker and a drinker. Beresford noted similarities between the figures and those in drawings in Paris with a smoker and a drinker (Related works, nos 1a, 1b) [1-2] and in Stockholm (Related works, no. 2) [3], where the peasant puts his hand in his coat. The figures are sometimes combined in a single picture, as in Washington, where a man with his hand in his coat is combined with a woman who is holding a glass of wine (Related works, no. 3), and in Paris, where a smoker and drinker are together (Related works, no. 4). In Montpellier a smoker is combined with a figure that very much resembles the drawing in Stockholm (Related works, no. 5). The figure looking over his shoulder in DPG110 also appears in a picture in Karlsruhe (formerly attributed to Adriaen Brouwer), where he is carrying a stick (Related works, no. 6) [4]. Clearly Teniers had a number of stock figures that he could draw on.
The function of these paintings is unclear. Such small pictures may have been collectables, and intended for a cabinet of curiosities.
1
David Teniers (II)
Farmer with pipe, half figure
Private collection
2
David Teniers (II)
Farmer with glass, half figure
Private collection
3
David Teniers (II)
Farmer, half figure
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, inv./cat.nr. 2118/1863
4
David Teniers (II)
Two peasants
Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, inv./cat.nr. 198
Notes
1 ‘David Teniers the younger. Head of a Man. A miniature in oil, on copper, of excessive delicacy of finish and strength of character.’
2 ‘A similar figure appears in a drawing by Teniers in a private collection, Paris (Antwerp 1991, [p. 315,] no. 123B).’
3 ‘David Teniers. Head of an old Woman.’
4 ‘Teniers. Head of an Old Woman. Two small miniatures in oil.’
5 ‘A similar head appears in a drawing by Teniers in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (Antwerp 1991, [p. 316,] no. 124).
6 RKD, no. 290322: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290322 (June 29, 2018); Klinge 1991, p. 315, no. 123A.
7 RKD, no. 290323: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290323 (June 29, 2018); Klinge 1991, p. 315, no. 123B.
8 RKD, no. 290324: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290324 (June 29, 2018); Klinge 1991, p. 316, no. 124.
9 https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.74820.html (Sept. 25, 2018); Wheelock 2005, pp. 243–5.
10 Joconde (8 Jan. 2014); Faroult 2007, pp. 411–12, no. M.I. 996 (L. Bolle).
11 RKD, no. 18366: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/18366 (June 26, 2018); Buvelot, Hilaire & Zeder 1998, pp. 203–6, no. 55 (O. Zeder). This picture is also called La prompte obéissance (prompt obedience), as that was the name given it on an 18th-century print (see the following note).
12 RKD, no. 280966: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/280966 (June 26, 2018); Lauts 1966, pp. 292, 301, no. 198. Lauts refers to an example in the Robinson & Fisher sale, London, 14 March 1935, no. 136, and also mentions an engraving published by Basan, La Prom[p]te Obéissance (Smith 1829–42, iii (1831), p. 397, no. 513). That print was made by Catherine Beauvarlet, see O. Zeder in Buvelot, Hilaire & Zeder 1998, pp. 203–4 (fig. 55b); also Lüdke 2005a, pp. 23–4 (figs 6 (Karlsruhe), 7 (Montpellier).
13 For the probate inventory of 1640 see Vlieghe 2011, pp. 20–21, 109 (note 154): ‘Zeven plaetkens boetserij Tronien: de 5 naer Brouwer ende de 2 naer Tenier […] Drie dobbelplaten boetserij: de 2 naer Brouwer ende 1 naer Tenier’ (Seven plates with comical Tronies: 5 after Brouwer and 2 after Teniers […] three comical double plates: 2 after Brouwer and 1 after Teniers).