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Francesco Donato, ambassador to Spain (1504), England (1509) and Florence (1512), maintained Venice’s neutrality in the war between Charles V and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and contributed to the peace treaty with Soliman. Elected Doge at the age of 77, he remained in office until his death in 1553. The identification of the sitter is based on the existence of two versions of the portrait: in
In the Seventeenth Century, tobacco became one of the major themes of Nordic painting, often as an allegory of the sense of smell and as a symbol of the fragility of human existence. The output of the Flemish artist David Teniers contains numerous such scenes, depicting the inside of taverns with popular characters drinking and smoking in a relaxed setting, imbued with realism and spontaneity. Ano
A male figure smokes and drinks, directing an expressive glace at the viewer. Behind him, a companion is inside a tavern filled with vats, basins and barrels. The protagonist has been identified as a soldier on leave after a campaign, but this is also a representation of everyday life in Flanders. Illustrations of people enjoying the pleasures of alcohol or tobacco were quite customary in the work
And alchemist, recognizable by his characteristic cap, fans the fire in his laboratory. The presence of books, flasks and other instruments in the foreground reveal his pseudo-scientific activity. In the background, a group of three figures of a certain social standing appear to be discussing the subject from a theoretical standpoint. This work is paired with A Surgical Operation (P01803) and both
A healer or rural doctor treats a peasant´s foot with rustic tools. Behind them, a worried woman looks on, while a servant enters with food. The composition is derived from works on the same subject by Teniers´ teacher, Adriaen Brower. The presence of an owl, symbolizing wisdom, may be an illusion to a critical interpretation of what is depicted here. This painting would thus be linked to the trad
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 Teniers´ skill at still-life and genre scenes. Outstanding here, is the naturalness of the dog. Huddled up,
Some peasants dance to the sound of a bagpiper in front of a house in what is one of many examples of genre scenes painted by this artist. Teniers based this work on the esthetics and certain compositional schemes by Jan Brueghel “the Elder” (1568-1625), repeating the same idyllic vision of peasant life, which was also omnipresent in Flemish literature at that time. Some of the charact
As part of his many genre scenes, Teniers frequently depicted players of skittles or other peasant games, such as bocce, which were very popular entertainment in seventeenth-century Flanders. The compositional scheme used by Teniers is similar to other works by him. At one end, the volumes of the houses serve as a backdrop for the scene, at the other, separated here by an earthen mound, the perspe
A group of villagers pass the time by testing their aim with a bow. One shoots at the target placed in the ruins of a wall while the others look on, standing or sitting, and a small group converse. The horizontal layout of this composition is more pronounced than in other scenes by this painter, which reinforces the idea of movement in the event. Stylistic motives like the evening light that flood
Of the artists who painted war scenes in the 17th century, none was as interested as David Teniers II in capturing images from behind the lines. With his customary tactile rigor, he depicts a plethora of military objects lying in the foreground with no apparent order and a handful of figures hanging cuirasses or helping their colleagues to remove their footgear. At the same time, he draws on one o
The foreground display of numerous military elements, banners, drums, cuirasses and weapons, leads to a genre painting showing some soldiers resting in the background. On the left of the composition, one of the pages works to hang up the soldiers' clothes. Here, as in his other works, Teniers shows his capacity to use light to achieve a perfect representation of the qualities of the objects depict
Some villagers converse while going about their peasant tasks. This work is one of the rural scenes showing everyday life in the Flemish countryside, of which Teniers made many, especially during the sixteen forties, when he gradually abandoned the indoor scenes that had also made him famous. The presence of a block in the foreground —in this case, a house— and a perspective of the lan
At the foot of several boulders that border a path, a group of three gypsies and a child wait while another gypsy tells his fortune to a peasant. On the other side of the path, a peasant couple contemplates the scene. The setting opens up in the centre towards distant mountains. The clouds appear to repeat the morphology of the boulders, the mountains and the tree branches that frame the scene on
This is a singular example of David Teniers´ indoor scenes. The kitchen or tavern utensils so common in his other works are completed here with a magnificent show of diverse fruit and vegetables. This converts the right part of the composition into a still life. On the left, a character shells mussels, a traditional foodstuff in the Low Countries, while another group works beside the fireplace. Th
Peasants or villagers hold a feast in front of a tavern or inn, recognizable by its red flag. They drink, eat and dance to the music of a bagpiper standing on a barrel. On the left, various distinguished personages, who stand out because of their different clothing, look on with a combination of curiosity and indifference. A large church in the background indicates there is a town nearby. On the b
