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拍品專文
This jovial Merry drinker with a large jug and a glass of beer belongs to a small group of extremely rare and idiosyncratic genre pictures by Willem van der Vliet, a prolific portrait painter who seldom turned to narrative and genre subjects, yet demonstrated a command of the characteristic idiom of the Northern European followers of Caravaggio, notably Hendrick ter Brugghen, Dirck van Baburen and Gerrit van Honthorst.
Though our knowledge of van der Vliet’s life is limited, he gained enough acclaim in his own lifetime to be included in the list of eminent Delft painters in Dirck van Bleyswijck's Beschryving der Stadt Delft (Description of the City of Delft, published in 1667). The artist appears to have trained with the court painter Michiel van Mierevelt before registering as a master at the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1615. While never seemingly leaving his home town of Delft, van der Vliet may have seen paintings by Caravaggio that passed through Amsterdam in the 1610s and 20s. Stylistically, however, the artist’s greatest inspiration came from the Utrecht Caravaggisti, most notably Hendrick ter Brugghen, Dirck van Baburen and Gerrit van Honthorst, who set the fashion for life-size half-length genre figures in the Netherlands in the 1620s. The boldness of their images, rendered with delicate lighting, local colouring and clear modelling, had a distinct influence on van der Vliet’s work by 1624, when this painting was executed. Their influence is evident in this painting in the almost tangible realism of the textures, fabrics and materials, and the striking control of light.
Seemingly inspired by intellectual pursuits that went beyond painting, van der Vliet imbued his scenes with obscure references and symbolic puzzles, some of which have to this day been subjects of debate among scholars, such as A scholar in his study with figures with masks, possibly an allegory, sold Sotheby’s, New York, 27 January 2011, lot 141 (see T. Fusenig, ‘”See, it doth not bite”: Willem van der Vliet paints Philosophy’, Simiolus, XXXVI, no. 3/4, 2012, pp. 163-7). Dated to around the same time as the present picture, this work belongs to a small group of highly idiosyncratic allegories by the artist, which appear to gravitate around the theme of education, attesting to a didactic nature in his work.
While the theme of the merry drinker is in itself not unique in Dutch painting, van der Vliet’s treatment of the subject is distinctive, focusing on the individuality of a single figure and the array of symbolic motifs around him. The artist seemingly looked to Caravaggio’s followers in Rome, in particular the enigmatic master known as Cecco del Caravaggio, whose equally obscure iconographical concoctions and fanciful costumes were painted with meticulously rendered detail, and, as in the present picture, regularly allowed the reality of the studio to obtrude into the space of the picture plane. One such work of A young man playing a tenor recorder before a table, recently attributed to Cecco and also thought to be of South Netherlandish or German origin (fig. 1; sold Sotheby’s, London, 4 December 2008, lot 128), shares uncannily similar observations and ideas with the present composition. Seemingly painted at around the same time, it suggests that van der Vliet may have either been aware of the work or inspired it in turn, or that both painters drew from a common source in their artistic milieu.
In each picture, the artist depicts a flamboyantly dressed figure at half-length, seated at a table with playing cards, beer, tobacco, and a recorder, dressed in a costly doublet and fur cape, with a large, floppy plumed beret, based on that of a German landsknecht and often used in genre works as a symbol of vanity and frivolity. Indeed, to van der Vliet’s contemporary audience, this painting would have been viewed as a warning against moral decay and the temptations of worldly pleasures, with the seemingly arbitrarily arrangement of objects laden with moral connotations. The large earthenware jug of beer under his arm, for example, descends from a long tradition of profligate imagery that can be traced back to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and may indicate that this painting was designed as an allegory of Gluttony in a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, or a personification of Taste in a series of the senses, much like A young man playing a tenor recorder would represent Hearing. The prominence of the precariously balanced glass in the figure’s hand suggests imminent danger, reminding us of the impermanence of sensual pleasure, paralleled by the recorder, a symbol of eroticism and un-refinement, that perilously balances on the playing cards in the foreground. Card play was generally viewed as a sign of idleness and an attribute of Indolence, with the ace of spades the trump card and a noteworthy symbol of the role of cards as randomisers in the game of life, shifting fortunes between winners and losers.
Though our knowledge of van der Vliet’s life is limited, he gained enough acclaim in his own lifetime to be included in the list of eminent Delft painters in Dirck van Bleyswijck's Beschryving der Stadt Delft (Description of the City of Delft, published in 1667). The artist appears to have trained with the court painter Michiel van Mierevelt before registering as a master at the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1615. While never seemingly leaving his home town of Delft, van der Vliet may have seen paintings by Caravaggio that passed through Amsterdam in the 1610s and 20s. Stylistically, however, the artist’s greatest inspiration came from the Utrecht Caravaggisti, most notably Hendrick ter Brugghen, Dirck van Baburen and Gerrit van Honthorst, who set the fashion for life-size half-length genre figures in the Netherlands in the 1620s. The boldness of their images, rendered with delicate lighting, local colouring and clear modelling, had a distinct influence on van der Vliet’s work by 1624, when this painting was executed. Their influence is evident in this painting in the almost tangible realism of the textures, fabrics and materials, and the striking control of light.
Seemingly inspired by intellectual pursuits that went beyond painting, van der Vliet imbued his scenes with obscure references and symbolic puzzles, some of which have to this day been subjects of debate among scholars, such as A scholar in his study with figures with masks, possibly an allegory, sold Sotheby’s, New York, 27 January 2011, lot 141 (see T. Fusenig, ‘”See, it doth not bite”: Willem van der Vliet paints Philosophy’, Simiolus, XXXVI, no. 3/4, 2012, pp. 163-7). Dated to around the same time as the present picture, this work belongs to a small group of highly idiosyncratic allegories by the artist, which appear to gravitate around the theme of education, attesting to a didactic nature in his work.
While the theme of the merry drinker is in itself not unique in Dutch painting, van der Vliet’s treatment of the subject is distinctive, focusing on the individuality of a single figure and the array of symbolic motifs around him. The artist seemingly looked to Caravaggio’s followers in Rome, in particular the enigmatic master known as Cecco del Caravaggio, whose equally obscure iconographical concoctions and fanciful costumes were painted with meticulously rendered detail, and, as in the present picture, regularly allowed the reality of the studio to obtrude into the space of the picture plane. One such work of A young man playing a tenor recorder before a table, recently attributed to Cecco and also thought to be of South Netherlandish or German origin (fig. 1; sold Sotheby’s, London, 4 December 2008, lot 128), shares uncannily similar observations and ideas with the present composition. Seemingly painted at around the same time, it suggests that van der Vliet may have either been aware of the work or inspired it in turn, or that both painters drew from a common source in their artistic milieu.
In each picture, the artist depicts a flamboyantly dressed figure at half-length, seated at a table with playing cards, beer, tobacco, and a recorder, dressed in a costly doublet and fur cape, with a large, floppy plumed beret, based on that of a German landsknecht and often used in genre works as a symbol of vanity and frivolity. Indeed, to van der Vliet’s contemporary audience, this painting would have been viewed as a warning against moral decay and the temptations of worldly pleasures, with the seemingly arbitrarily arrangement of objects laden with moral connotations. The large earthenware jug of beer under his arm, for example, descends from a long tradition of profligate imagery that can be traced back to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and may indicate that this painting was designed as an allegory of Gluttony in a series on the Seven Deadly Sins, or a personification of Taste in a series of the senses, much like A young man playing a tenor recorder would represent Hearing. The prominence of the precariously balanced glass in the figure’s hand suggests imminent danger, reminding us of the impermanence of sensual pleasure, paralleled by the recorder, a symbol of eroticism and un-refinement, that perilously balances on the playing cards in the foreground. Card play was generally viewed as a sign of idleness and an attribute of Indolence, with the ace of spades the trump card and a noteworthy symbol of the role of cards as randomisers in the game of life, shifting fortunes between winners and losers.