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Willem Cornelisz Duyster , Dutch, 1599-1635

Title

Interior with Soldiers

Date1632

MediumOil on wood panel

Dimensions

48.2 cm

Signedlower right: W D 1632 [WD in monogram]

Credit LinePurchased, 1895

Object numberNGI.436

DescriptionDuyster’s small oeuvre comprises genre scenes and portraits. Together with his friend Pieter Codde he developed and popularised the guardroom scene, known in Dutch as a cortegaerdje (a corruption of the military term corps du garde). The artist often depicted off-duty soldiers drinking, smoking, playing tric-trac, making music or courting young ladies. Sometimes the soldiers are shown looting, taking people hostage or fighting amongst themselves. The present painting, one of three extant works by Duyster’s hand that are dated, depicts an officer walking down the steps into a stable in which five other soldiers are conversing and playing games. The man proudly displays a walking stick and gorget under his cloak. A powder bag hangs on the wall to the right. As can be seen in this work, Duyster was a highly skilled painter of different textures, fabrics and light effects. He completed it one year after marrying the sister of the genre painter Simon Kick and three years before dying of the plague. Duyster owed his last name to his parental home in Amsterdam, which was called De Duystere Werelt (The Dark World).

March 2016
ProvenancePurchased, Dermot Bourke, 7th Earl of Mayo, 1895 Exhibition HistoryMaster European Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland, Art Institute of Chicago, 6 June - 9 August 1992; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 19 September - 6 December 1992; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 13 January - 28 March 1993; IBM Gallery, New York, 27 April - 26 June 1993

Label TextDuyster’s small oeuvre comprises genre scenes and portraits. Together with his friend Pieter Codde he developed and popularised the guardroom scene, known in Dutch as a cortegaerdje (a corruption of the military term corps du garde). Some of Duyster’s interiors with soldiers depict them looting, taking people hostage or fighting among themselves. More often, the artist depicted them drinking, smoking, playing games, making music or courting young women. This painting, one of three extant works by Duyster that is dated, depicts an officer proudly displaying a walking stick and gorget under his cloak.