Circle By Jan Miense Molenaer (haarlem, 1610 Ca. - 1668), Gender Scene

Circle by Jan Miense Molenaer (Haarlem, 1610 ca. - 1668)

Gender scene

Oil on canvas, cm 87 x 69

Frame, cm 88 x 105

Jan Miense Molenaer was a Dutch painter, among the exponents of the period known as the Golden Age. His work, which spread between his home town of Haarlem and Amsterdam, was influenced by encounters with painters such as Rembrandt and Frans Hals. His style, initially close to that of Hals, but later, more precisely during the period of stay in Amsterdam, closer to that of painters such as Adriaen van Ostade and Adriaen Brouwer, is characterized by a pronounced realism and by a lenticular rendering of the gestures and faces of the individuals represented. Genre painter, he represented mostly musicians but also many tavern scenes, religious scenes, and portraits. Molenaer was an educated painter and his iconographies are often inspired by the proverbs and poems of Jacob Cats and Gerbrand Adriaensz. Equally evident are the works that allude to the five senses. His works have been exhibited in Amsterdam, Berlin, Braunschweig, Budapest, Copenhagen, Krakow, Florence, Ghent, Manchester, Paris, Seattle, Stockholm and Vienna.

The canvas in question has all the key features of this author’s production: his predilection for the representation of colorful tavern scenes, the great importance given to the luministic dimension and to the refraction of light on the faces of the customers and on the dress of the lady, the construction of a crowded scene in which they meet and dialogue with each other characters from different social classes and from different realities and the meticulous rendering of physiognomic details and clothing. The painting is signed and dated, J. Molenaer 1660. Although of excellent workmanship - see the rendering of fabrics, pottery and careful characterization of characters - is to be referred to an active painter in the circle of the Master.

This artist’s hand is so consistent with that of Molenaer, that in the 20th century the work was often attributed directly to him. Often these attributions were "corroborated" by a signature that blurred their true provenance, as in this case. However, it is undeniable here the recognition of great technical expertise that makes it a valuable work and representative of the more mature style of the great Molenaer.