On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01793
- Author
- Teniers, David (Flemish)
- Title
- Smokers in a tavern
- Chronology
- 1631-1640
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 52 cm x 65 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
A group of villagers sit or stand
indoors, smoking around a barrel
that serves as their table. In the
background, another warms himself
beside the fireplace, and a figure
enters the room. In the foreground
are cooking or tavern utensils,
such as a jug, a cauldron and a
barrel, which display Tenier's
skill at still-life and genre
scenes. Outstanding here, is the
naturalness of the dog. Huddled up,
he contemplates the scene's
protagonists.
As a representation of everyday
life, this work illustrates the
expansion of tobacco in Europe.
Criticized and praised in equal
measure, it was consumed on a
customary basis at that time.
Teniers takes no moral position
reguarding its use, as there is no
openly critical element here,
although the grotesqueness of the
characters is significant as a
possible illustration of
vice.
Beginning with figures by his
teacher, Adriaen Brouwer, Teniers
repeated figures and groups in his
many versions of taverns and
smokers. The present one is first
listed in 1794, at Madrid's Royal
Palace.
Location on the map
