Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/222

198 JAN STEEN SECT. Peasants playing skittles and drinking ; and a loaded waggon. In the background on the right a mansion amidst large trees. Carefully and vigorously rendered. Canvas, 21 inches by 26^ inches. Sales. Antony Sijdervelt, Amsterdam, April 23, 1766, No. 34 (137 florins). Amsterdam, March 6, 1769, No. 15. 740. Skittle- Players. A company of men and women are drinking in an arbour. On a bench sits a man conversing with a woman. In the middle distance are skittle-players in a broad landscape. 14 inches by 10 inches. Sale. St. Loquet and others, The Hague, September 8, 1789, No. 24 (260 florins, Delfos). 741. Skittle - Players in a Landscape. From one side comes a maid-servant bringing beer to two peasants. One of them is smoking ; the other looks at a glass which he holds. Near them are other persons. The expression and arrangement are excellent. Panel, 15 J inches by 19^ inches. Sale. G. J. de Servais, Malines, July 21, 1775, No. 133 (112 florins 16). 741*7. The Game of Skittles. See Sm. 91 and W. 368. Sale. De la Hante, Paris, 1821 (1600 florins). 742. Peasants playing Skittles. W. 44 ; and see W. 368. In front of a cottage two peasants are playing skittles, and two others look on. At one side sits a peasant smoking ; he watches another man jesting with a girl. On the left is an open gate on the road. In the background are a village and sand-dunes. Panel, 20 inches by 27 inches. Sales. J. Bleuland, Utrecht, May 6, 1839, No. 309 (880 florins). Munnicks van Cleef, Utrecht, December 10, 1860, and Paris, April 4, 1864, No. 88 (3350 francs), measuring 20 inches by 24 inches. 742*7. A Country Merrymaking. In front of a tavern, the thatched roof of which is seen at the back among trees near a church-tower, numerous persons are drinking and playing. In the foreground a peasant and a young soldier are seated on the ground, playing cards. Two old men, one seated and the other standing, look on and laugh. Behind this group the hostess marks up the score on a tree-trunk. On the left a couple of drinkers converse ; others on the right play skittles ; near them a drunken man lies on the ground. On the earth are a hat, a broom, a cask with a charcoal-pan, a pipe, and a paper of tobacco. Canvas, 17 inches by 23 inches. Compare the Munro picture (733). Sale. D. van der Schrieck of Louvain, Brussels, April 8, 1861, No. 108. 743. Peasants at Play in Front of a Tavern. On the left three peasants beneath a large tree are playing a game resembling golf. Numerous