Jan Baptist Monteyne, Shrove Tuesday

by Atelier Liesjes

In a dimly lit room with a high ceiling, where a red cloth has been stretched above the scene, a group of people are gathered. In the foreground on the left, a woman wearing a white bonnet and a yellow apron is sitting on the floor, nursing a child; next to her stands a wooden tub containing a sleeping child. Seated at the table are a man in an orange-red hood and a woman with a white collar holding out a glass; in the centre, a man dressed in black is pouring from a jug. On the right, a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and carrying a stick stands next to a woman in a red-and-green striped skirt; a dog is jumping up at him. On the tiled floor lie an overturned glass jug and a plate. It is a genre piece in the tradition of seventeenth-century Flemish interior painting. The colours are warm and deep: brown, ochre, red, green and gold, with light streaming in from the left and lifting the figures out of the darkness. Shrove Tuesday, the evening before Ash Wednesday, is a time of lavish feasting and drinking before the start of Lent. The painter depicts this celebration without moralising mockery: he pays attention to the children, the dog, the household furnishings and the expressions of the onlookers. Thus, a pub scene becomes a small comedy of postures and gestures. Little is known about Jan Baptist Monteyne; his work is classified as part of seventeenth-century Flemish genre painting, in which domestic scenes, festivities and pub life take centre stage. This canvas demonstrates his skill in painting fabric, faces and a convincing play of light in a dark interior. The figures are rendered with loose brushstrokes, whilst the faces are painted with greater care. A lively, warm work suitable for a dining room or a classic interior.