j JAN STEEN 37 foreground is a spotted dog, in front of a cask. Beside the cask stands a red-haired youth, drinking out of a pewter pot. Behind him is another lad, who plays the flute. Near him in the arched doorway of the house is a bagpipes. At the table sits a youth with yellow stockings and white shoes ; he plays a flute. A pretty young woman, who lays her hand on the youth's knee, seems to be playing with a child, who sits on an old man's knees. The old man holds a goblet, with a piece of lemon-peel on the edge of it j the child drinks out of a pewter pot. To the left is a stone bench, against which is placed a large bass viol. On the ground lie some playing-cards and tobacco-pipes. There is a view of the garden between the pillars that support the arbour. It is in every way a remark- able work. Canvas, 42 inches by 56 inches. Sale. Nieuhoff, Amsterdam, April 14, 1777, No. 189 (184 florins, Van der Schley). This is identical with 95. gga. The Merry Party (" Soo de ouden songen, soo pijpen de jongen "). Signed. In the possession of von Pencke, Berlin, in the time of Parthey (1863). 100. AFTER THE CAROUSE. Sm. 95 and Suppl. 30; W. 20. A woman, -dressed in a black silk bodice and brown silk skirt, reclines lazily on a bench. She holds a pipe in her right hand, and leans with her left arm upon the knee of a drunken man ; he has a glass in his right hand and with his left grasps the jug, which stands upon a cask. An old woman at the back seizes the opportunity to steal the man's cloak. Two musicians, who are going away, look on with a smile. In the foreground sits a bewildered cat. On a partition hangs a print of an owl, with the inscription : "Wat baeter Kaers of Bril, als den Uil niet zien en wil" (Of what use is candle or spectacles, when the owl will not see ?). This is the masterpiece among Jan Steen's pictures in the Rijksmuseum. Signed in full in the left-hand bottom corner ; panel, 21 inches by 25^ inches. A second example, agreeing in subject and dimensions (21 x 26^), is described by Smith (No. 196) as in the possession of Noe, of Munich, in 1833, and as formerly imported into England by Chaplin ; Westrheene (W. 176) thought that Smith had confused it with the Amsterdam picture. Sales. H. Muilman, Amsterdam, April 12, 1813, No. 146 (500 florins). J. Kamermans, Rotterdam, October 3, 1825, No. 3 (1600 florins, Lamme). Rotterdam, 1833 (1500 florins). Formerly in the Van der Hoop collection. Now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1903 catalogue, No. 2234 (formerly No. 1379). 101. THE DANCING POODLE. Sm. 17 and Suppl. 21 ; W. 143. An old woman sits at a table on the right j she offers a glass of spirits to a fiddler. He looks round at a boy who is making a poodle
