142 JAN STEEN SECT. and warm, and the aerial perspective delicate. It is an excellent work, but is unfortunately covered with very thick varnish. Signed in full ; panel, 18 inches by 22 inches. Described by Waagen (ii. 105). Exhibited at the British Gallery, 1819 ; and at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, 1890, No. 93. In the collection of Alexander Baring, 1833 (Sm.). Now in the collection of Lord Ashburton, The Grange. 529. A MERRY COMPANY. Sm. 106 ; W. 35. To the left is a young woman wearing a green bodice and a red skirt ; she holds in her left hand a glass which a young man fills for her. In the centre an old woman reads a letter. On the right the artist is teaching a boy to smoke. Near him is a woman with a child in her lap. Farther back are a bagpiper and an old man. The persons are seated at a table. It is spirited in expression, and the brushwork is broad and flowing j the execution is somewhat superficial, but it is one of the artist's best works and resembles the picture formerly in the Van der Hoop collection (523). Signed in full on the wall to the left ; canvas, 52 inches by 64 inches. Sale. Baroness Van Leyden, nee Countess Thorns, Warmond, July 16, 1816, No. 35 (1260 florins). Now in the Steengracht collection, The Hague (where it was seen in 1833 by Sm.). 530. A MERRY COMPANY AT TABLE. In a large room lighted by two windows six men and women are assembled round a table. Behind it is a fiddler ; in the left foreground is the hostess with a jug. A man carries dishes from the fireplace on the right, at which a woman is busy with her cooking. In the background to the right are two children ; in the foreground is a cat, near some plates and dishes. Signed in full on the chimney-piece; panel, i6| inches by 27 inches. In the collection of Baron von Konigswarter, Vienna. In the possession of the dealer Ch. Sedelmeyer, Paris. Now in the collection of A. Thieme, Leipzig, 1900 catalogue, No. 75. 531. A MERRY COMPANY. A man standing up salutes a young woman and offers her a glass of wine. Behind them are various persons at table ; farther back are other groups, among them a fiddler. The pic- ture has suffered, but is not bad. Panel, 15^ inches by 13 inches. Now in the Lille Museum, 1893 catalogue, No. 742. 532. A MERRY COMPANY. Sm. 88 ; W. 55. In a spacious room eleven persons are assembled, amusing themselves with cards, music, and flirtation. In the centre sits a violinist, looking with admiration at a young woman who smiles at him. The woman wears a white cap and a blue dress, and leans upon a table covered with a white cloth. Two men and a woman are playing cards at the table, while another man looks on. Beside the hearth to the left sit a stout man (apparently the artist himself) and his wife j an old woman is baking cakes. At the window a some- what intoxicated man holds up a glass of beer ; another man, who is
