A village landscape with the Distribution of Bread to the Poor

The son of Flemish parents, de Bloot was raised in Rotterdam; he married three times and it is thought that he was relatively well-off, but otherwise little is known about his life. It is not known under whom he trained as an artist. He produced a surprisingly large oeuvre consisting primarily of bawdy peasant scenes that reveal the influence of Adriaen Brouwer and David Teniers II.

We are very grateful to Mr. Fred Meijer of the RKD for noting that this picture can be dated to the 1630s or 1640s.