A tavern scene

The characteristic choice of medium, as well as the angular and striking style of this drawing links it to similar tavern and peasant scenes by the same hand, formerly often attributed to Adriaen Brouwer. A.M. Hind and, more recently, Annemarie Stefes have made the case for the attribution to Egbert van Heemskerck (A.M. Hind, Catalogue of Drawings by Dutch and Flemish Artists preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, II, Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck and Other Artists of the Flemish School of the XVV Century, London, 1923, pp. 90-91, under no. 5; A. Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450-1850: Kupferstichkabinett der Hamburger Kunsthalle, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna, 2011, I, p. 269, under no. 420, III, ill.). Indeed, among a large group of drawings by the artist, formerly in the collection of Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, some were inscribed ‘Heemskirk del.’ on the verso in a contemporary hand (sale C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, 4 November 1931, lots 105-116, pl. VIII). Apart from five sheets at the British Museum (inv. 1893,1212.1, 1900,0717.36-1900,0717.39, 1902,0407.1; see Hind, op. cit., pp. 90-92, nos. 5-10, pl. XLV) and one in the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Stefes, op. cit., I, no. 420, III, ill.), examples can be found at the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, inv. RP-T-1931-176; Teylers Museum, Haarlem, inv. U+ 038; and the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, inv. 1999.148.