Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/269

JAN STEEN 245 8887. A rich Composition. Sale. Utrecht, June 27, 1825 (166 florins, Van der Berg). 888#2. A Scene with Life-size Figures. Sale. Rotterdam, April n, 1827, No. 73 (25 florins, Lamme). 888. A Picture with Candlelight. Sale. Rotterdam, April 1 1, 1827, No. 89. An Interior. Panel, 6 inches by 8 inches. Sale. Helene Kerry, Antwerp, September 18, 1848, No. 89. 258. The Dealer (or, The Boy with a Duck). W. 335. [ Translator's Note. A full description of this important picture, which was rediscovered too late for adequate treatment in its place at pp. 76-7, is appended.] A short flight of stone steps rises immediately from the sunlit foreground, and then descends into a dark vaulted passage with an open door to the left. On the right a boy and girl with an old man behind them ascend the steps from the back. The fair-haired boy, wearing a red jacket and loose breeches or a petticoat of blue, is mounting the top steps. He has a dead duck under his right arm and carries a large flat basket in his left hand. Beside him, to the left, is his little sister, holding an egg. Close behind the children, but more in the shadow of the vault, is an old grey-bearded man, wearing a grey cloak and hood, with his face turned to the right. In the dark corner to the left behind this group a man is kissing a young woman. On the steps in the foreground, and on shelves to the right, are poultry, game, vegetables, and fruits, while in the left centre a dead chicken hangs from a hook in the vaulted roof. In the immediate left foreground is a brass mortar decorated in repousse. The composition, framed in an archway, and the exceptionally elaborate and skilful painting of all the accessories remind one at a first glance of many similar pictures by Dou. The figure of the boy possibly to be identified with the painter's son is superbly rendered, and the whole picture is bathed in a warm golden glow. It is in perfect preservation. Signed in full on the brass mortar ; panel, 22^ inches by 17! inches. Sales. J. Danser Nijman, Amsterdam, August 16, 1797, No. 239 (150 florins). London, June 14, 1907, No. 47 (ji68o, Dowdeswell). Now in the possession of the dealers Messrs. Dowdeswell, London.