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Overview
Jan Georg (Joris) van Vliet (1605-68) was born in Leiden and entered Rembrandt's studio in about 1630-31. No paintings are known to him, but the volume in the Pelican History of Art devoted to Dutch Art and Architecture 1600-1800 by Jakob Rosenberg, Seymour Slive and E.H. ter Kuile, says he is "important as an etcher" (p. 148). At least some of his etchings were apperantly "executed under Rembrandt's close supervision", possibly, according to C.H. Hind, using Rembrandt's own drawings as models, just as Marcantonio Ramimondi did with Raphael and members of Rubens' studio did under the master's direction. In addition to etchings after Rembrandt's drawings and paintings, Van Vliet also executed a few etchings after Jan Lievens and Joris van Schooten.
In the early 1630s, Van Vliet made a series of 11 etchings known as The Beggars. This one has the lowly occupation of rat-catcher. A bearded man, advanced in years and hunchbacked, looks intently at a couple of rats perched on the edge of his tray, presumably filled with poison. He holds a small stake, probably to impale them - they will share the same fate as the rat dangling from the tray. Leaning against his right shoulder is a long handled, cage-like trap. One rat is clearly attracted to it - and its bait or poison, while another hangs from it, presumably another dangling corpse. Grim comedy pervades the little scene.
See: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/v/vliet_j/biograph.htmlDr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art July 2017