Lot Essay
This drawing is loosely based on Jacob Jordaens' painting of the same subject now in the Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, Kassel. In the 1922 Amsterdam sale it was indeed attributed to Jordaens. The later attribution to van den Eeckhout was made by Dr. J.C. Ebbinge-Wubben, and supported by Professor Sumowski. The subject is based on Aesop's Fables, where the satyr witnesses a peasant blowing hot to warm his hands, and cold to cool his porridge; hence the expression 'blowing hot and cold'. It was interpreted as a parable of constancy, and reemerged as a popular subject for Netherlandish and Dutch artists in the 17th Century. Interestingly, Eeckhout made two paintings, and four drawings of this subject (Sumowski, op. cit., nos. 625-7; 628).