Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/68

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44 JAN STEEN SECT. 119. The Weil-Fed Family. Sm. 65; W. 114. Eight persons are assembled in a room ; their appearance indicates wealth and good living. In the right foreground sits a stately woman, who is putting a slice of lemon into a jug. On the other side a man sits leaning on a table and watching her. Between them stands a man cutting a piece of cheese j a child sits on the floor holding a biscuit. In the background a man is about to cut a slice of sausage, and threatens with his knife a hungry beggar who turns away from the door. Two other children stand to right and left. In the right background a woman is going out. Panel, 15 inches by 12^ inches. [Pendant to 120.] A copy is in the Von Hoschek collection, Prague. Sales. Amsterdam, June 5, 1765, No. 115 (with the pendant, 26 florins). J. C. Werther, Amsterdam, April 25, 1792, No. 148. In the collection of Sir George Warrender, Bart., in 1833 (Sm.). Sale. Baron de Beurnonville, Paris, May 9, 1881, No. 477. 120. The Starved Family. Sm. 66; W. 115. The spare forms and pinched faces of this family indicate their poverty and unhappiness. The mother, with a child in her lap, gives a boy some mussels from a dish on a little table before her. Another woman stands near holding a plate. The father sits farther back, smoking his pipe. A stout man in the background is going away ; one of the hungry folk detains him and invites him to share the frugal meal. Panel, 15 inches by i inches. [Pendant to 119.] Sale. Amsterdam, June 5, 1765, No. 116 (with the pendant, 26 florins). In the collection of Sir George Warrender, Bart., in 1833 (Sm.). Sale. Baron de Beurnonville, Paris, May 9, 1881, No. 478. 121. THE WELL-FED FAMILY. A family whose numerous members all look well fed are seated at table. In front of it stands a stout man, with his back to the spectator, draining his glass. To the right sits a fiddler playing. A jovial married couple sit on the other side of the table ; to the left of it a man in a tall hat is carving a joint. A fire is blazing on the hearth ; a woman is attending to the pot. In front of her are seated two children, eating greedily from a plate on a footstool. To the right sits another woman, with a child in her arms, feeding a little girl with broth. From the ceiling hang hams, fowls, and sausages ; some cheeses are on a shelf. On the walls and floor are all sorts of household utensils. In the background a stout man is sending away an emaciated beggar, who stands at the door. Signed in full in the right-hand bottom corner ; panel, 28 inches by 36 inches. [Pendant to 122.] Exhibited in Brussels, 1882, catalogue No. 236 ; then in the possession of Bellefroid. In the collections of De Keyser, Breda, and of Michotte, Brussels. Sale. Paul Mersch of Paris, at Keller and Reiner's, Berlin, March i, 1905, No. 103. 122. THE STARVED FAMILY. In the centre is a rough