Day 414 - "Everyday life"


 April 29, 2025

The works in gallery 637 thrust me forward a hundred years or so into what feels like an entirely different world -  one that is secular, hedonistic, and marked by abundance. This is, of course, a simplification: The introductory wall sign notes that paintings of Biblical and mythological scenes continued to have the highest prestige in the Low Countries.  But the Reformation and a burgeoning middle class induced painters to take on different kinds of subjects, and specifically, to present scenes of everyday life - the theme of this gallery.  I hadn't really thought about the role of the Reformation in shaping art markets, but of course it makes sense that artists, with  fewer commissions to decorate churches or create private devotional images of saints, were incentivized to explore new themes.

On first glance, I thought that all the paintings on display were the works of  Netherlandish artists, but the first painting I looked at closely turned out to be by Annibale Carracci. Oh well....

Pictures of ostensibly secular subjects were not necessarily devoid of moral content, according to the signage. Depictions of overflowing tables and carousing drinkers may have been intended in part to warn against excessive indulgence. But the Franz Hals painting, made in 1623, that's the subject of today's entry seems to me to eschew moralizing, and that's one reason I like it so  much. Measuring roughly 52 inches high and 40 inches wide,  "Young Man and Woman at an Inn "  depicts a couple enjoying a drink (their cheeks are flushed, presumably from alcohol) and each other.  They stand close together, he holding a glass in his upraised right arm,  her left hand touching his chest. Both smile broadly; you can only imagine that they are on the way to bed. 

Hals is known for his broad brushwork, but I note his ability to capture the textures of the woman's  organza collar, the feathery plumes (blue!) of the man's hat, and the silky hair of the dog whose head is visible in the lower right-hand corner. In the background you can make out another guest seated at a table, but our attention is focused on the merry couple.
 

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