Kermis on St George's Day, David Teniers II
Like Bruegel, Teniers creates episodes in which we can recognise the vices of Lechery (in the man molesting a woman to the right of centre), Wrath (two men are kept from each other in the background), drunkenness (in the figure sleeping it off to the lower right) and general boorishness (seen throughout). The mood is much more concerned, however, with characteristic behaviour (the two sealing a bargain to the left), careless folly and comical high spirits, especially in the principal couple dancing with such cheerful and inexpert abandon. The way in which the old man looks on to the left suggests the indulgent wisdom of the village elder. It is tempting to conclude that this happy scene is a celebration of the Treaty of Munster of 1648.
