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Lucas van Uden , Flemish, 1595-1672 and

David Teniers II , Flemish, 1610-1690

Title

Peasants Merrymaking

Dateearly 1640s

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

122.2 x 218 cm

Signedlower right: Lucas/ Van Uden lower centre: DT [in monogram]

Credit LinePurchased, 1874

Object numberNGI.41

DescriptionA group of peasants with a dog and some sheep are making merry in the foreground of a vast landscape that includes a dramatic rain cloud and a colourful rainbow. Four of the peasants dance to the tunes of a bagpipe player, while another tries to lure a young woman with a pail to join them. Several other drunken peasants, appearing further up the path, make their way towards them. In the distance lies a stately castle. Van Uden and Teniers collaborated on many occasions. Most of their paintings have a similar format, featuring peasants in the right foreground and a view of a distant landscape immediately behind them, with no significant middle ground in between. Teniers painted the merry peasants as caricatures in exaggerated poses, displaying the usual carefree vices of seduction, idle frolics and drunkenness. The landscape is by Van Uden, who was greatly influenced by Peter Paul Rubens’s landscapes of the 1630s.

March 2016
ProvenancePurchased, Christie's, 9 February 1874, Sir Richard Frederik sale, lot 70 Exhibition HistoryOld Masters Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1886

Le Siecle de Rubens, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, 1965

Music and Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1985

From Titian to Delacroix: Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, Yokohama Sogo Museum of Art, 25 August - 17 October 1993; Chiba Sogo Museum of Art, 10 November - 20 December 1993; Prefectural Museum of Art, Yamaguchi, 5 January - 20 February 1994; Kobe City Museum, 25 February - 10 April 1994; Isetan Museum of Art, 14 April - 24 May 1994

European Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, Canberra, 25 June - 3 October 1994; Art Gallery of New South Wales, 21 October 1994 - 15 January 1995

Label TextA number of peasants with sheep and a dog are making merry in the foreground of a vast landscape with a rain cloud and colourful rainbow. Four of them dance to the tunes of a bagpipe player, while another one tries to lure a young woman with a pail to join them. Several other drunk peasants make their way towards them. Van Uden and Teniers collaborated on many occasions. Van Uden’s landscape was greatly influenced by Rubens’s paintings of the 1630s. Teniers painted the merry peasants as caricatures in exaggerated poses, displaying the usual carefree vices of seduction, idle frolics and drunkenness.