item details
David Teniers the Younger; artist; Mid 17th century
Overview
An aged man wearing a tall fur hat and a contented smirk has just filled a very ample glass of wine from the ceramic jug or carafe beside him.
This skilfully etched print poses something of a mystery, but it corresponds to an untitled work in the British Museum (S. 4804). The BM record describes another impression of the same work, with the same inscription at upper left and dimensions of no great difference. It is attributed on stylistic grounds to engraver Coryn (Qurijin) Boel (1620-68), who is known to have worked in collaboration with the famous Flemish 'low life' genre painter David Teniers the Younger. Its former owner who presented it to the Colonial Museum in 1869, Bishop Ditlev Monrad, not inaccurately attributed it to Teniers: the inscribed initials ('DT') indicate this rather than the delirium trimens that will inevitably carry off the man in this print.! It makes an obvious comparison with the Man holding a jar by the same artist (Te Papa 1869-0001-517).
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art September 2018
(research by Mathew Norman, 2007)