Indiana University Indiana University IU

Browse the collection

Interior Scene with Six Male Peasants Smoking and Drinking

Artist Cornelis Bega (Dutch, ca. 1631–1664)
Title Interior Scene with Six Male Peasants Smoking and Drinking
Date 1661
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions Framed: 26 3/8 × 24 3/4 × 3 1/4 in. (67 × 62.9 × 8.3 cm)
Support: 19 3/4 x 18 in. (50.2 x 45.7 cm)
Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 73.13

Share this artwork!

About this Work

One of the most important Dutch painters of rustic genre scenes, Cornelis Bega masterfully portrays the atmosphere of a gloomy, cluttered tavern interior, populated by six peasants. The message of the painting is ambiguous. On one level, the image may offer a moral commentary on the vices of smoking and drinking; on the other, in Bega’s time, tobacco was considered to have medicinal properties, and beer brewing was integral to the Dutch economy. Bega was likely a student of Adriaen van Ostade, who also specialized in peasant genre scenes.


March 1973, Indiana University Art Museum purchase from H. Shickman Gallery, New York, NY

1969–1973, with H. Shickman Gallery, New York, NY. Purchase from Duits Gallery, 1969 [1]

?–1969, with Duits Gallery, London, England (inventory number 1921) [2]

unknown dates (before 1969), possibly with the Estate of Juan Girondo (in care of the Girondo children)? [3]

?–ca. 1927, Collection of Juan Girondo (1846–1927), Buenos Aires, Argentina [4]

Notes:

[1] Sale from Duits to Shickman, dated 3 December 1969, documented on Duits Gallery inventory card for the Bega painting (Box 37, Duits Ltd. Records, Getty Research Institute).

[2] Per Duits inventory card (Box 37, Duits Ltd. Records, Getty Research Institute).

[3] A posthumous gift of thirty-three paintings made in 1933 in Girondo’s name to the Museo Nacional de Bella Artes, Buenos Aires, suggests that his estate may have remained in the care of family as it was variously dispersed (Curator’s correspondence with the Museo Nacional de Bella Artes, dated 29 September 2005).

[4] Per ink inscription “Juan Girondo” on the painting’s stretcher bar. Juan Girondo, a native of Buenos Aires, spent much of his adult life abroad with his wife and children, staying for extended intervals in various European cities. It seems probable that he acquired the Bega painting during one of these stays. Further details concerning his travels remain outstanding.

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

Viewing Information
This artwork is currently on view.

 

Request this Image
The Eskenazi Museum of Art provides images of its collection, free of charge, upon request. This artwork is under copyright protection. You can request the image and it will be emailed to you when the request is complete.

Cite this Page
"Interior Scene with Six Male Peasants Smoking and Drinking | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=73.13