David Teniers II DPG49, DPG52
DPG49 – A Road near a Tavern
oak panel, 22.1 × 16.9 cm
Monogrammed, bottom right: DT.F (DT in monogram)
DPG52 – A Tavern
oak panel, 22.1 × 16.6 cm
Monogrammed, bottom right: DT.F (DT in monogram)
DPG49
DPG52
PROVENANCE
Insurance 1804, no. 108 and no. 109 (‘An Upright Landscape – Teniers £100’ and ‘Ditto – Ditto · £100’); Bourgeois Bequest, 1811; Britton 1813, p. 24, no. 245 (‘Drawing Room / no. 33, Public house door - 3 figures P[anel] Teniers’; 1'1" × 1'0") and Britton 1813, p. 24, no. 245 (‘Drawing Room / no. 29, Cottage door - sign post - figures P[anel] Teniers’; 1'1" × 1'0").
REFERENCES
DPG49 A Road near a Tavern
Cat. 1817, p. 4, no. 17 (‘FIRST ROOM – South Side; A Landscape, with Cottage and Figures; D. Teniers’);1 Haydon 1817, p. 371, no. 17;2 Cat. 1820, p. 4, no. 17;3 Patmore 1824b, p. 24, no. 9 (D. Teniers);4 Cat. 1830, p. 6, no. 84; Jameson 1842, ii, p. 455, no. 84; Denning 1858 and 1859, no. 84 (David Teniers II); Sparkes 1876, pp. 171–2, no. 84 (Teniers II); Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 160, no. 84 (David Teniers I);5 Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 12, no. 49; Cook 1914, p. 28, no. 49; Cook 1926, p. 27, no. 49; Cat. 1953, p. 38 (David Teniers I); Murray 1980a, p. 125 (David Teniers II); Murray 1980b, p. 27; Beresford 1998, pp. 228–9; Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 252, 266 (NB: the images of DPG49 and DPG52 are mistakenly transposed); RKD, no. 290257: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290257 (July 2, 2018).
DPG52 A Tavern
Cat. 1817;6 Haydon 1817;7 Cat. 1820;8 Patmore 1824b, p. 24, no. 17 (D. Teniers);9 Cat. 1830, p. 6, no. 86 (‘A Cottage, with Figures’); Jameson 1842, ii, p. 455, no. 86;10 Denning 1858 and 1859, no. 86 (David Teniers II); Sparkes 1876, p. 172, no. 86 (David Teniers II); Richter & Sparkes 1880, p. 160, no. 86;11 Richter & Sparkes 1892 and 1905, p. 12, no. 52; Cook 1914, p. 29, no. 52 (David Teniers I); Cook 1926, pp. 28–9; Cat. 1953, p. 38 (David Teniers I); Murray 1980a, p. 125 (David Teniers II); Murray 1980b, p. 27; Beresford 1998, pp. 228–9; Jonker & Bergvelt 2016, pp. 255, 266 (NB: the images of DPG52 and DPG49 are mistakenly transposed); RKD, no. 290464: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290464 (July 3, 2018).
TECHNICAL NOTES
DPG49 A Road near a Tavern
Single-member oak panel with vertical grain; the edges are bevelled. The panel has a slight warp. Battens have been added to the vertical edges and these are reinforced with canvas strips. The paint is generally well preserved; the trees are slightly faded and there are some old scuffs and signs of damage in the sky. Previous recorded treatment: 1949–53, cleaned and restored, Dr Hell; 1994, cleaned and restored, N. Ryder.
DPG52 A Tavern
Single-member oak panel with vertical grain. The panel is slightly warped. An old mended and retouched crack can be seen at the bottom edge, with small (retouched) losses and blisters on either side of it. There is an old split on the left side. Previous recorded treatment: 1949–53, conserved, Dr Hell; 1991, panel repaired and old battens removed, cleaned and restored, N. Ryder.
RELATED WORKS
1) David Teniers II, View in a Village, signed D. TENIERS.F., panel, 41 × 62 cm. Present whereabouts unknown (Brod Gallery, London, 1991).12
2) David Teniers II, Landscape with a Crooked Signpost, black chalk, 160 × 231 mm. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, KdZ 30126 [1].13
3) David Teniers II, Farm with Thatched Roof; a Dog and Two People talking, monogrammed D T F, pencil, 182 × 140 mm. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, 13975.14
4) Ralph Cockburn, Cottage and Figures, c. 1816–20, aquatint, 220 x 179 mm (Cockburn 1830, no. 29), DPG [2].15
DPG49 and its pair, DPG52, are similar upright-format scenes of taverns with travellers and peasants and two signposts, crooked in opposite directions. Teniers typically plays variations on the figures and the buildings. The man with a spade in DPG52, for example, reappears in reverse and in a different costume in a Village Landscape (Related works, no. 1); he seems also to be a variation on the old man in DPG95 (A Castle and its Proprietors, below). But that should not obscure the charms of these works: although rapidly painted, the pictures’ silvery tones, areas of localized colour, and marvellous lighting effects are very carefully considered. Indeed, that Teniers could produce almost endless variations on such simple scenes without slavish repetition is impressive. There are also two related drawings, one with the crooked signpost in a similar landscape, with a building on the right (Related works, no. 2) [1], and one with a small thatched farm on the right, a dog, and two people talking (Related works, no. 3).
The paintings have often been referred to as depicting cottages, but it seems more likely that they show roadside taverns, given the signboards outside the buildings and the two barrels visible in DPG52.
1
David Teniers (II)
Figures by an Inn in a landscape
Amsterdam, Amerongen, Utrecht, private collection Hans van Leeuwen, inv./cat.nr. Leeuwen 1992, p. 184, cat.nr. 184
2
Ralph Cockburn after David Teniers (II)
Cottage and figures, 1816-1820
Dulwich (Southwark), Dulwich Picture Gallery
Notes
1 Given the description in Haydon 1817 (see the next note), the no. 17 in Cat. 1817 and Cat. 1820 also refers to DPG49.
2 No. 17: ‘Landscape, Cottage and Figures. Three figures in conversation at a village alehouse door, and a dog.’ On the same page Haydon also comments on nos 17 (DPG49), 19 (DPG146), 20 (DPG33) and 21 (DPG35 or DPG52), and concludes: ‘The foregoing five little pictures are exquisite examples of truth of colouring, drawing, and composition.’
3 Because of the description in Haydon 1817 (see the previous note), no. 17 in Cat. 1820 and in Cat. 1817 also refers to DPG49.
4 ‘There are several pleasing little pictures by Teniers in this room [the First Room], but none of very particular merit. No. 9 is perhaps the most agreeable. It consists of a home scene, an exterior, with a cottage, and three figures at the door of it conversing. The tone is sweet and silvery, and the finishing is more careful than is usual with this artist.’
5 ‘Nos. 84 and 86 are companion pictures; they were both formerly ascribed to the younger Teniers.’
6 It is not clear which of the following three pictures by Teniers in Cat. 1817 is DPG52: p. 3, no. 10 (‘FIRST ROOM – South Side; Cottage and Figures; D. Teniers’); p. 4, no. 20 (‘FIRST ROOM – South side; A Cottage, with Figures; D. Teniers’); or p. 4, no. 21 (‘FIRST ROOM – South Side; A Cottage, with Figures; D. Teniers’). The other possibilities are DPG33 and DPG35.
7 It is not clear which of the pictures is DPG52: no. 10, ‘Cottage and Figures. Painted with great appearance of truth, and is an excellent little specimen of the master’; no. 20, ‘Cottage with Figures’; or no. 21, ‘Ditto.’ The other possibilities are DPG33 and DPG35.
8 It is not clear which of three pictures by Teniers is DPG52: p. 3, no. 10 (‘Cottage and Figures; D. Teniers’); p. 4, no. 20 (‘A Cottage, with Figures; D. Teniers’); or p. 4, no. 21 (‘A Cottage, with Figures; D. Teniers’). The other possibilities are DPG33 and DPG35.
9 ‘This is another pleasing little cabinet work, of a similar character with the above [DPG49], – extremely clear, sweet, and true.’
10 ‘The Companion [of no. 84 = DPG49] – Two small upright pictures.’
11 ‘Nos. 84 and 86 are companion pictures; they were both formerly ascribed to the younger Teniers.’
12 See Klinge 1991, pp. 102–3, no. 29; figs 29a and 29b show two preparatory drawings (in the Louvre and Besançon) for that picture; both include the pointing figure (in reverse) that is in both DPG49 and DPG52.
13 RKD, no. 291293: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/291293 (Sept. 26, 2018); Bevers & Sölter 2008, p. 147 (with provenance).
14 Bock & Rosenberg 1930, i, p. 281, no. 13975.
15 RKD, no. 290463: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/290463 (July 3, 2018).