200 JAN STEEN SECT. of a bet. One man in the group holds a cock. On the other side a number of men watch a cockfight. " This is a dark and freely painted picture" (Sm.). Canvas, 23 inches by 29 inches. Sales. G. Schimmelpenninck, Amsterdam, July 12, 1819, No. 114 (299 florins, Brondgeest). J. J. de J. J. Faesch, Amsterdam, July 3, 1833, No. 55 (300 florins, Chaplin). Heris, Brussels, June 19, 1846, No. 70. [The Faesch and Heris catalogues wrongly identify this with the Lormier picture, 745.] 7470. Drinkers at Table. W. 150. Described by Blanc in the Nantes Museum, where it is no longer to be found. 747^. The Cheery Couple. A woman, no longer young, with her neck bare, sits at a table pouring brandy out of a jug into a little cup. She looks round anxiously at something on the left that has arrested her attention. A man behind laughs heartily at her. He wears a hat and has a pipe in his left hand. On the table in front are a knife and a paper of snuff. Signed; panel, 9 inches by 7 inches. Now in the collection of Gustav von Hoschek, Prague. 748. THE DRINKERS. Sm. Suppl. 65; W. 172. In the fore- ground sits a man, facing left and bending forward. He wears a broad- brimmed hat and a greyish-yellow cloak. With his left hand he holds a small pewter pot on his left knee ; with the right he raises his glass to his lips. Opposite him in the middle distance is a man, wearing a pale red dress and cap, who reads from a news-sheet. In the right background the hostess of the tavern stands behind her counter ; in front of her is a man with a tall hat. On the table to the left are a square bottle, a metal tobacco-box, and a white clay pipe. At the back is a dark green curtain. This is one of the sketchy pictures, if not a copy. Signed with the monogram on a cross-bar of the table; canvas, 17 inches by i inches. Described in Ludwigslust, by Parthey (ii. 579, No. 38). Copies exist in the collections of DelarofF, St. Petersburg, and G. von Hoschek, Prague. [It is not necessarily identical with the picture of the Van Buytene sale, 1 748, as W. thought ; see 680.] Sales. (Possibly) J. G. Cramer, Amsterdam, November 13, 1769, No. 91 ; the description agrees, but this measured only 14^ inches by n^ inches. (Possibly) Daniel Marsbag, Amsterdam, October 30, 1775, No. 102 ; the description and size agree, but this was a panel. [Sm. describes the above picture as on panel.] In the possession of the Dukes of Mecklenburg since 1792. Now in the Museum, Schwerin, 1882 catalogue, No. 975.
