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In a cluttered interior, a drunken man with shirt undone and hat pulled over his face slouches in a chair. His companions take pleasure in his stupor and conspire to have him drink even more. Although the painting serves as a reminder of the dangers of overindulgence, it also offered comic relief.
Requires Photography
Tavern Scene with a Drunken Man
Cornelis Pietersz Bega (Dutch, 1620–1664)
1661
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
41 × 35.5 cm (16 1/8 × 14 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo in honor of Hanneke and Michael Enthoven and in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2022.1924
ClassificationsPaintings
In a cluttered interior, a drunken man with shirt undone and hat pulled over his face slouches in a chair. His companions take pleasure in his stupor and conspire to have him drink even more. Although the painting serves as a reminder of the dangers of overindulgence, it also offered comic relief.
Inscriptionslower left: cbega / 1661
Provenance1775, probably Claude-Guillaume Debesse (d. by 1786), Paris; April 3, 1775, Debesse sale, Paris, probably lot 44, to Robert Quesney (dealer), Paris [see note 1]. 1786, Charles-Francois-René Mesnard de Clesle (b. 1732 – d. 1803), Paris; December 4, 1786, Clesle sale, Hôtel de Bullion, Paris, lot 11, to Alexandre Paillet (dealer; b. 1743 – d. 1814), Paris [see note 2]. 1914, Macrae Flett and Rennie (law firm), Edinburgh; July 10, 1914, anonymous (consigned by Macrae Flett and Rennie) sale, Christie’s, London, lot 97, to Martin for £75. May 25, 1919, anonymous (“Diverses provenances”) sale, Muller, Amsterdam, lot 102. Jonas Lek (b. 1875), Brussels; March 31, 1925, Lek sale, Muller, Amsterdam, lot 2. May 11, 1926, sold with a certificate from Walther Bernt, probably by or through Mensing, Amsterdam [see note 3]. 1982, private collector, Germany; December 10, 1982, anonymous (“The Property of a European Collector”) sale, Christie’s, London, lot 13, to Colnaghi, New York. Private collection, New York. 2001/2002, Otto Naumann, Ltd., New York and Bob Haboldt and Co., Paris; 2002, sold by Naumann and Haboldt, to Michael and Hanneke Enthoven, The Hague and Hobe Sound, FL; 2021, sold by Michael and Hanneke Enthoven to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Naples, FL; 2022, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 6, 2022)
NOTES:
[1] “Un tableau transparent & du plus beau pinceau de Béga, composé d'une femme & quatre hommes, dont un endormi: hauteur, 14 pouces 6 lignes, largeur 12 pouces 6 lig.”
[2] Bega, “Un intérieur de Tabagie Hollandoise, dans lequel est un grouppe de cinq figures, dont la principale placée au milieu de la composition, est un homme ivre assis, vu de face, ayant une jambe croisée sur l'autre, la poitrine découverte & son chapeau rabattu sur les yeux; derriere lui à sa gauche, est un autre personnage qui lui présente un flacon, & sur la droite est une femme assise, tenant un pot de bierre & un verre, & riant de l'état du malade... Hauteur 14 pouces & demi, largeur 12 pouces 6 lignes.”
[3] Information about the certificate is provided in the 1982 Christie’s sale catalogue and by Mary Ann Scott, “Cornelis Bega as Painter and Draftsman” (Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1984), pp. 306 – 307, cat. 84. Whether the painting remained with this certificate in the same collection from 1926 until the time it was auctioned in 1982 is unclear.
NOTES:
[1] “Un tableau transparent & du plus beau pinceau de Béga, composé d'une femme & quatre hommes, dont un endormi: hauteur, 14 pouces 6 lignes, largeur 12 pouces 6 lig.”
[2] Bega, “Un intérieur de Tabagie Hollandoise, dans lequel est un grouppe de cinq figures, dont la principale placée au milieu de la composition, est un homme ivre assis, vu de face, ayant une jambe croisée sur l'autre, la poitrine découverte & son chapeau rabattu sur les yeux; derriere lui à sa gauche, est un autre personnage qui lui présente un flacon, & sur la droite est une femme assise, tenant un pot de bierre & un verre, & riant de l'état du malade... Hauteur 14 pouces & demi, largeur 12 pouces 6 lignes.”
[3] Information about the certificate is provided in the 1982 Christie’s sale catalogue and by Mary Ann Scott, “Cornelis Bega as Painter and Draftsman” (Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 1984), pp. 306 – 307, cat. 84. Whether the painting remained with this certificate in the same collection from 1926 until the time it was auctioned in 1982 is unclear.