Arent (?) Diepraem, 'A Peasant seated smoking', about 1650
About the work
Overview
Whatever the purpose of this picture, the subject – a shabby man clutching an ale mug and pipe, his eyes cast to the ceiling as if searching in vain for a thought – is meant to be an object of ridicule. It has been suggested that the image might be a vanitas, an allegory of the fleeting nature of life, gone like a puff of smoke from a pipe. Another possibility is that it’s a tronie (‘face’), a painting of a stock character often with an exaggerated facial expression.
Diepraem made a speciality of such pictures, either single tronie portraits or groups of peasants partying in an inn, with the same outlandish expressions – and often with a similar blue and grey jug somewhere in the scene, containing Rhenish wine.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Peasant seated smoking
- Artist
- Arent (?) Diepraem
- Artist dates
- 1622 - 1670
- Date made
- about 1650
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 28.5 × 23 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by Dr J. Seymour Maynard through the Art Fund, 1920
- Inventory number
- NG3534
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Neil MacLaren, revised and expanded by Christopher Brown, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School: 1600–1900’, London 1991; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1960Maclaren, Neil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 2 vols, London 1960
-
1991Maclaren, Neil, revised by Christopher Brown, National Gallery Catalogues: The Dutch School, 1600-1900, 2nd edn (revised and expanded), 2 vols, London 1991
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.