Shrovetide, now better known as Mardi Gras, is the traditional period of pre-lent pampering and self-discipline. In the seventeenth-century Netherlands it was also the occasion for theatre performances by the guilds of painters. Here Hals shows two stock figures from these plays, Hans Worst, with a sausage dangling from his cap, and Pekelharing, who wears a wreath of salted fish and eggs. They flank a richly dressed girl (probably a dragging boy, because women were not allowed to perform on these occasions). Still life elements are in the foreground, evoking both the traditional food of the festival and an abundance of erotic innuendo.
Frans Hals (Antwerp, 1582/1583 - Haarlem, 26 August 1666) is considered one of the most important Old Dutch Masters. As far as we know, he worked his whole life in Haarlem and became known above all for his lively and colourful riflemen's pieces and depictions of contemporaries.
