i JAN STEEN 215 794. A MAN AND WOMAN AT WINE. A young woman, wearing a blue jacket and a greenish apron, sits in profile to the right at a table. She holds a wine-glass in her right hand ; with the left she grasps a bottle which is also grasped by a man, dressed in a dark costume, who watches her. On the table are white plates and part of a loaf. The picture as a whole makes a very good impression, but the details are not so delicate as usual. For example, the surface of the wine in the glass held sideways is also out of the horizontal. The picture is badly hung, but it appears to be an original and not an old copy. It is restrained and beautiful in colour. Signed in full on the edge of the table to the right ; panel, 14^ inches by 12 J inches. Now in the Filangieri Museum, Naples, No. 1439. 795. A LOVE SCENE. A man seated on a bench with a jug in his hand seeks to embrace a young woman. She signs to him to be quiet, as her husband stands in the background reading a letter. On the right is a bed. From the ceiling hangs a cage with a parrot. Signed in the left-hand bottom corner ; panel, 21 inches by 18 inches. [Compare 814?'.] Sales. J. van der Linden van Slingeland, Dordrecht, August 22, 1785, No. 403 (51 florins). De Camendo, Paris, February i, 1893. Now in the collection of the Marquis d'Aoust, Paris. 796. LOVERS UNDER A TREE. The man holds the girl in his arms and tries to kiss her. He wears a reddish-brown jacket ; she wears a blue bodice, a light purple skirt, and yellowish-brown sleeves. The picture is a replica of 819 in a different scheme of colouring. The figures here are, however, larger in relation to the landscape than in 819 ; and there is no rabbit at the foot of the tree. In the foreground is a plant with broad leaves ; on the right is a basket of fruit. Signed in full and dated 1659 (according to the late owner) ; canvas, 36^ inches by 51 inches. In the collection of the late Maurice Kann, Paris. 797. THE SICK GREYBEARD (or, "January and May"). Sm. 27 and Suppl. 25 ; W. 188. Two young women one seated and wearing a purple skirt and a pink jacket, the other standing and dressed in brown with a white cap laughing, offer a bone to a sick greybeard. The old man, in a yellow dressing-gown, sits in an arm-chair, holding a cup in one hand and a purse in the other. To the left a chambermaid is warming his bed. On the right are a peasant and a cook at a table. On the wall hangs a picture by Rubens of " Susanna at the Bath." In the foreground are a bottle, plates, egg-shells, and a cat. The look of suffering on the old man's face and the mischievous smiles of the girls are very well rendered. The peasant at the back appears to be Jan Steen himself. It is a very good picture. Signed in full in the left-hand bottom corner; panel, 19 J inches by 1 inches.
