A merry company

Jan Massys was the eldest son of painter Quinten Massys. The sparse records of the artist's life and work indicate that he took over the running of his father’s studio after his death. Massys appears to have been in Fontainebleau before travelling on to Germany and Italy, where he is recorded in 1549. Whilst in his father’s studio, and throughout his career, Massys assumed a traditional Flemish style. He paid homage to his father’s themes in his depiction of satirical genre scenes, portraying courting couples, unequal lovers and merry companies, such as the present lot. Although there are several variants of this composition, the present panel is particularly notable for the quality of the portraiture and the treatment of the still-life on the table.