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Lot Essay
Egbert Heemskerck the Elder was a successful genre painter in Haarlem and Amsterdam. In his paintings and drawings he often depicted peasants drinking, smoking and playing cards. When he moved to London, in the early 1670s, he began a focus on more religious subjects representing the meetings and activities of the Quakers.
Lively in both subject and execution, the present work portrays the northern European tradition of celebrating Twelfth Night (also known as the Epiphany). During the celebration the local community would share a cake, which would have a coin, or a bean, included in the recipe. The person who received the slice of cake with the coin would go on to become the King or Queen of the night celebrated with music and drinks. The subject was popular among European artists, and it is perhaps best known from Jacob Jordaens’s (1593-1687) painting, The Bean King, in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (inv. ГЭ-3760).
Lively in both subject and execution, the present work portrays the northern European tradition of celebrating Twelfth Night (also known as the Epiphany). During the celebration the local community would share a cake, which would have a coin, or a bean, included in the recipe. The person who received the slice of cake with the coin would go on to become the King or Queen of the night celebrated with music and drinks. The subject was popular among European artists, and it is perhaps best known from Jacob Jordaens’s (1593-1687) painting, The Bean King, in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (inv. ГЭ-3760).