''Shrovetide Revellers'', also known as ''Merrymakers at Shrovetide'', is a painting by the

Dutch Golden Age painter Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, ; ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He lived and worked in Haarlem, a city in which the local authority of the day frowned on religious painting in places of worship but citizens liked to decorate thei ...

, painted in around 1616–17. It is one of the earliest surviving works by Hals, and has been held by the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

since 1913. The painting shows people festivities at

Shrovetide Shrovetide is the Christian liturgical period prior to the start of Lent that begins on Shrove Saturday and ends at the close of Shrove Tuesday. The season focuses on examination of conscience and repentance before the Lenten fast. It includes ...

(), an annual carnival of food and jollity which takes place before the Christian fasting season of

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

Painting

The painting shows the face of an elegantly dressed smiling woman raising her right finger to make a point, while a man grabs her shoulder to whisper in her ear: he has a string of herring, eggs and mussels around his neck, with a

pig's trotter A pig's trotter, also known as a pettitoe, is the culinary term for a pig's foot. It is used as a cut of pork in various dishes around the world, and experienced a resurgence in the late 2000s. Description Pigs' trotters, sold as Irish-style c ...

and a fox tail, symbols of gluttony and foolishness respectively. Another amused gentleman, with a

wurst Wurst may refer to: *The ground (minced) meat product sausage *The KMFDM compilation album Würst, released in 2010 *Conchita Wurst Thomas Neuwirth (born 6 November 1988) is an Austrian singer, fashion designer, human rights activist and drag q ...

hanging from his cap, leans on the first man's shoulder and listens to their banter. Some claim these are the Baroque theatre characters '' Peeckelhaeringh'' and ''

Hans Wurst Hanswurst or Hans Wurst (German for "Johnny Sausage") was a popular coarse-comic stock character of German-speaking impromptu comedy. He is "a half doltish, half cunning, partly stupid, partly knowing, enterprising and cowardly, self indulgent an ...

''. Behind them other people are talking and laughing. The flagon Bears the initials "fh". The female wears much more brightly colored clothing than any of Hals other sitters, and shows a strong resemblance to the young woman portrayed in Hals' '' Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart''. Both are considered to be genre works today, so the models could be anyone in Hals circle such as his children or pupils. In his 1989 catalog of the international Frans Hals exhibition, Slive included a full color photo of this work to demonstrate Hals' "love of life". The painting itself could not be included in the exhibition because it can never be lent out. In the same year that Slive was writing his exhibition catalog,

Claus Grimm Claus Grimm (born November 22, 1940) is a German art historian and from its founding in 1983 until 2007 he was director of the Bavarian historical institute Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte in Augsburg. He is considered an authority on Frans Hals a ...

rejected the attribution of this painting to Frans Hals, though he conceded it was probably after a painting by Hals, calling it a copy of a lost original.''Entry "k1" in Frans Hals : het gehele oeuvre'', by Claus Grimm, Amsterdam, Meulenhoff/Landshoff, 1990 Hals' positioning of the figures are related to two other known paintings: File:Frans Hals - Merry Trio.jpg, Hals' ''Merry Trio'' (lost in World War II) File:After Frans Hals - Shrovetide revellers NK1564.jpg, A period copy, situated outside under the moon

Provenance

The painting was first documented by

Wilhelm von Bode Wilhelm von Bode (10 December 1845 – 1 March 1929) was a German art historian and museum curator. Born Arnold Wilhelm Bode in Calvörde, and known as Wilhelm Bode for most of his career, he was ennobled in 1913, and thereafter adopted the ar ...

in 1883, and after that was included in most catalogs of Hals' works, including by

Ernst Wilhelm Moes Ernst Wilhelm Moes (1864 – 1912), was a Dutch art historian and director of the print cabinet for the Rijksmuseum. Biography According to the NNBW he studied art at the University of Amsterdam and became a print collector while still a stude ...

in 1909,

Hofstede de Groot Hofstede de Groot is a Dutch surname. Notable people with this surname include: * Petrus Hofstede de Groot (1802–1886), Dutch theologian * Cornelis Hofstede de Groot Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (9 November 1863 – 14 April 1930), was a Dutch ...

in 1910, by W.R. Valentiner in 1923, and by Gerrit David Gratama in 1946. The Metropolitan Museum of Art lists an Amsterdam sale entry from 1765 mentioning a genre work of ''Vasten-Avond'', or

Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day) is the final day of Shrovetide, which marks the end of the pre-Lenten season. Lent begins the following day with Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is observed in many Christian state, Ch ...

, and

Seymour Slive Seymour Slive (September 15, 1920 – June 14, 2014) was an American art historian, who served as director of the Harvard Art Museums from 1975 to 1984. Slive was a scholar of Dutch art, specifically of the artists Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and J ...

mentions a period drawing by Mathys van den Bergh. The painting was bequeathed to the

on the death of Benjamin Altman in 1913. Altman paid $89,102 to acquire it from a Monsieur Cocret in 1907. Cleaning in 1951 uncovered six heads in the background that had been painted out.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1615 paintings Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Paintings by Frans Hals Food and drink paintings Genre paintings

Painting

Provenance

See also

References

External links