i JAN STEEN 163 Among them is a woman in blue with a child ; a jovial man takes a woman by the hand ; a pair of lovers are at the end of the table. On the other side of the scene a couple dance to the music of a fiddler and a hurdy- gurdy man. The fiddler stands on a tub near a tree. In the background is a fine landscape. The couple dancing are identical with the dancers in the Goldschmidt picture (592). Signed in full to the right on an overturned bench ; panel, 16 inches by 19! inches. [Wrongly identified by W. with the picture of the Van Nispen sale, 1768 (606).] Sold by Messrs. Smith to Sir P. O'Rial, Paris, before 1842 (Sm.). In the possession of the dealer F. Kleinberger, Paris. Now in the collection of A. de Ridder, Cronberg, near Frankfort. 624. PEASANTS DANCING IN FRONT OF A TAVERN. In the foreground to the left is a tavern. In front of it about thirty peasant men and women watch four men and women performing a dance. To the left is a musician on a tub. In the right foreground a peasant invites a woman seated on a bench to dance j another man seated beside her will not let her rise. In the left foreground a man lies against a mound, sleeping off the effects of his carousal. In the distance to the right is a village with a church tower. There are various groups on the road towards it. The landscape fills a large part of the picture ; the figures are small but excellently drawn ; the movement of the dancers is especially well rendered. [Compare 622.] Panel, 15 inches by 22 inches. Probably the picture in the collection of Nicolaas van Breemen (Hoet, ii. 486), measuring i6 inches by 22 inches. Possibly the picture, measuring 17 inches by 23 inches, in the sale of Maria Beukelaar and Antonie de Waart, The Hague, April 19, 1752, No. 125 (165 florins). Sales. J. A. A. de Lelie and others, Amsterdam, July 29, 1845, No. 200 (415 florins, De Lelie). W. Gruyter, Amsterdam, October 24, 1882, No. 106 (145 florins, Goudstikker). Wirtz, Cologne, May 20, 1890, No. 13 as by P. de Bloot (920 marks). Now in the possession of Dr. A. Bredius, and exhibited in the Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague, 1895 catalogue, No. 553. 625. THE VILLAGE FAIR. On the right is a stage upon which comedians, one of them with a mask, appear. In front of it, among numerous spectators, are a horseman, a woman with a child in her arms, and a lady and gentleman. Farther to the left are a waggon and another horseman. Behind these are a cottage under trees and a church tower. On the left in front of a tent a woman sits conversing with a man who stands before her. Near them is a jovial peasant with his wife holding his arm. In front is a company of beggars on the ground. In the back- ground are two booths. Signed in full ; panel, i8| inches by 26 inches.
