i JAN STEEN 151 578. A Rustic Feast. W. 341. A rich composition. Canvas, 26^ inches by 33 inches. Sale. The widow of P. J. van Oosthuijse van Rijsenburg, nee M. de Jongh, The Hague, October 18, 184.7, No. 214. 579. A Company of Ten Persons in an Interior. Sm. 161 ; W. 119. A portly woman sits in the centre with a child asleep on her breast. To the right sits a man wearing a red cap with a plume ; he stretches out his hand as if to caress the child. These are said to be portraits of Jan Steen and his wife. A cradle with a green velvet cover stands near. On the other side an old woman is tending the fire. At the back of the room six persons are seated ; one of them, a jovial man, proposes a toast. It is "a brilliant and very effective production" (Sm.). Panel, 24 inches by 18 inches (roughly). Possibly identical with the picture of the Tendal sale, The Hague, 1809 (564). Exhibited at the British Gallery, 1831. In the collection of William Wells, Redleaf, 1833 (Sm.). Sale. Wells, London, 1848 (151 : 45., the Duke of Cleveland). 580. A Merry Company at Table. Some jovial persons are seated at table in a room ; several persons stand round and wait ; others are drinking wine. In the foreground is a child in an infant's chair ; two other children play with a dog and a cat. Panel, 22| inches by 23 inches. Sale. Amsterdam, February 12, 1850, No. 121. 580*7. A Merry Company of Rustics. Signed in full ; panel, 15 inches by u| inches. Sale. Utrecht, September 22, 1851, No. 138. 580^. A Merry Company. There are several persons with a girl who has her hair in plaits. The girl appears to be the central figure. The picture is full of humour, powerful, and transparent in colour, and spirited in execution. In the Tomline collection at Orwell Park in 1854 (Waagen, iii. 441). 581. A View in a Village Street. To the left is an inn, before which peasants sit drinking at a table j two, already drunk, lie on the ground in front, and their wives try vainly to raise them. Near them a couple dance to the music of a fiddle. To the right is a peasant wheeling a pig in a barrow. In the background is a landscape with another village. Panel, 16 inches by 20 inches. Sale. Thijssen, Paris, December 20, 1856, No. 37 (485 francs). 582. Five Persons, Two of them seated at Table. One, who plays the fiddle, resembles the artist. It is full of humour and carefully executed. In the collection of W. Bardon, London, in 1857 (Waagen, Suppl. 477).
