Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/199

i JAN STEEN 175 [The second version named by Sm. in the Valedau collection is the Montpellier picture ; see 671.] Exhibited at the British Gallery, 1819. Formerly in the collection of the Due de Valentinois. Sales. J. F. TufFen, London, 1818 (257 : 55., Pinney). Sir Simon H. Clarke, Bart., London, 1840 (^588); an "extra- ordinary price " (Sm.). In the collection of" Henry Bevan, London, 1842. Now in the collection of Alfred Rothschild, London. 669. Important News. Sm. 206. In front of an inn arbour a peasant sits at a table, reading from a news-sheet to two men and a woman. He faces the spectator and wears a slouch hat. One of his male hearers sits on the left beside him, and looks with a smile over his shoulder ; he wears a skull cap, and has a pipe in his right hand. The other man, who wears a tall hat and is possibly the innkeeper, stands on the right ; he is seen in profile to the left, and leans both hands on the table. The woman stands behind the group, leaning on a fence which separates the inn garden from the forecourt. The garden gate stands open on the left. Behind the woman, through an open door, are seen groups of trees. To the left and farther back in a corner of the court- yard are two men ; one leans forward and takes something out of a tub on the ground, while the other, a citizen, stands near. In the left foreground are a gillyflower plant, a tree -trunk, and a crouching dog. In the centre of the foreground is an upturned tub upon which is a jug. To the right is the inn-door. The thatched roof which covers the forecourt is overgrown with vine. Signed in full in the right-hand bottom corner. Described from a photograph, communicated in May 1905 by Claude Phillips, Keeper of the Wallace collection. Exhibited at the British Institution, London, in 1815. Then in the collection of the Hon. A. Phipps. Now in the possession of General Davis, Elmley Castle, Pershore. 670. A LITTLE HUMPBACKED MAN LIGHTING HIS PIPE. It may be genuine, but is not wholly convincing. Signed in full. In the Rutten collection, Liege. 671. THE TRAVELLER RESTING. See Sm. 112 ; W. 148. In an arbour an old man sits on a cask, facing left. He wears a blue doublet with black sleeves, red hose, and grey stockings ; his dog is on the right. He lays his right arm on a table, and looks with a smile of pleasure at a fair young girl in a yellow jacket and blue apron, who pours out a glass of wine for him. It is an extraordinarily fine picture of the very first rank, both in colour- ing, in the expression of the faces, and the landscape. Signed in full on the uppermost of the steps leading to the door on the left; canvas, 2iJ inches by 16 inches. Described by Ch. Blanc. [See 668 and 693*.]