84 JAN STEEN SECT. 298*7. A Schoolmaster. Possibly identical with (297). Sale. Duke of Bedford, London, 1827 (.115 : ios., Winstanley). 299. A School. Sm. 1 8 ; W. no. The schoolmaster, an aged man wearing a black cap and a grey costume with yellow-striped sleeves, sits on the left, holding a ferule in one hand, while with the other he points at a book from which a weeping boy reads. To the right are a girl and a boy. A third boy is writing in the foreground. An ink-pot and a book are on a table before the master. The figures are half-length. " This is a well composed and carefully finished production" (Sm.). Panel, 22 inches by 23 inches. Sales. Capello, Amsterdam, May 8, 1767, No. 66 (625 florins). Amsterdam, May 6, 1810, No. 9 (315 florins, Bredius). In the collection of J. R. West, Alcote, Stratford-on-Avon, 1833 (Sm.). 300. A School. Sm. 22 ; W. 65. Six figures. The master is chastising a boy with a ferule. Panel, 16 inches by 12 inches. Exhibited in the British Gallery, 1826. Sales. Countess of Holderness, London, March 6, 1802 (.115:108., Dermer). London, 1806 (,110:55.). In the collection of Alexander Baring, London, 1833 (Sm.). 301. A School. In an arm-chair to the right sits the master, correct- ing the exercise of a little girl who stands at his table. In his left hand he holds a ferule. To the left, before the desk, stands a boy holding a copy-book ; his back is turned to the spectator. Near him sits another busily writing. Near the girl is another boy, and there are six other pupils in the background to the left. On the floor in the foreground is an open chest, with a jug and a basket near it. The signature in full is on the chest. The picture has disappeared ; it is described from an engraving of the first half of the nineteenth century. 302. A CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL. Probably the festival after the first communion, or some similar occasion. Six children wearing an iris and two adults. It has been revarnished and apparently repainted ; its genuineness is therefore uncertain, though probable. Now in the Palazzo Bianco, Genoa. 303. A CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL. A girl with a wreath of flowers on her head stands before the open door of a modest burgher's house, surrounded by boys and girls, who sing and look on with curiosity. The Kunsthalle catalogue describes it as probably a Twelfth Night celebration, but the picture represents a summer scene. Signed in full in the left-hand bottom corner. Formerly in the collection of Nikolaus Hudtwalcker, Hamburg, and Johann Wesselhoeft, Hamburg. Now in the Hamburg Kunsthalle, 1889 catalogue, by Wesselhoeft, p. 50.
