i JAN STEEN 109 Both persons are watching a boy with smiling face who stands behind the table to the left, playing a violin. An old man with a tall hat and a woman are also admiring listeners. Through the trees is seen the roof of a house. It is a very good picture, and well preserved. Panel, i6| inches by 2o| inches. Now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, 1891 catalogue, No. 977. 418. THE FLUTE-PLAYER. On a terrace a man with a satyr- like face plays a flute. Near him a woman dressed in shot-silk is mending a red stocking, which she has drawn off her foot ; beside her lie her sewing materials. To the left are a dog and a gillyflower plant ; beyond these is a house. To the right is a vista of a landscape. It is genuine, but has been much damaged. Canvas on panel, 18 inches by 24 inches. Exhibited in Rotterdam, 1899, No. 16 ; at the Rijksmuseum, 1907. Sale. M. C. Groeninx van Zoelen and others, Rotterdam, June 25, 1800, No. 1 1 (21 florins 5). Now in the Hoogendijk collection at The Hague, No. 3. 419. THE VIOLINIST. In a village tavern a violinist is playing for dancers. The drawing of the little figures is not very delicate, but the composition and lighting are admirable. Signed in full and dated 1670 a proof that all the pictures with little figures do not belong to the artist's earliest period, as has been often assumed ; canvas, 17! inches by 19^ inches. Presented by Alexandre Leleux to the Lille Museum, 1873. Now in the Lille Museum, 1893 catalogue, No. 741. 420. THE MUSICIAN (or, An Interior with Figures). Sm. 153. A man with a flute in his pocket enters a rustic kitchen, bowing to two men and two women who are assembled round the hearth. One woman has a glass in her right hand, the other holds a jug ; one man sits smoking, while the other stands, filling his pipe. Through an open door to the left is seen an adjacent room, in which a tub and a jug stand close to the wall. The picture is in monochrome. Signed on the right with the monogram, and dated 1670 ; canvas, 17^ inches by 14^ inches. Engraved in mezzotint by Paul. Exhibited at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, 1879, No. 86. A similar picture was in the Van Loon collection, Amsterdam, 1833 (Sm.), but is not mentioned by Westrheene (1856). Formerly in the collection of the Right Hon. Sir William H. Gregory, who bequeathed it in 1892 to the National Gallery. Now in the National Gallery, London, 1906 catalogue, No. 1378. 421. THE GALLANT. Sm. Suppl. 109 ; W. 138. In an interior two women sit by the hearth, looking at an old man, probably Jan Steen himself, who with hat in hand makes them a bow. A young man standing by the fire looks on with a smile. An older man sits in the chimney-
