590 ADRIAEN BROUWER SECT. hand. In the left background is a fifth peasant, seen from the back. In the left foreground is a stool with a pewter pot and a piece of chalk on it ; to the right is an earthenware jug. In the right middle distance is the hearth with a blazing fire. On the back wall are a drawing and a shelf with an earthenware jug and bowl on it and another jug hanging under- neath. There are tones of red and blue, with a little red in the costumes. Very rich in colour. The group of figures is very similar to that in 78, in which a sixth peasant is added. Signed on the left at foot, and dated 1633. Engraved by A. W. Warren in the Stafford Gallery, No. 48 ; and by G. Noble in Forster's Gallery. In the collection of Lord Francis Egerton. In the collection of the Earl of Ellesmere, Bridgewater House, London, No. 222. 77. THE RUSTIC COUPLE AT MUSIC In a bare interior, with a half-opened door in the left background leading to another room, a man sits in the centre foreground. He is in profile to the right, with his head in a three-quarter view ; he looks at the spectator and plays the mandoline. On the floor in front of him is an earthenware jug ; to the left is a cat near an overturned dish. Behind the man to the right sits a woman singing behind a table ; she also looks at the spectator as she warms her hands over a charcoal pan. On the wall hangs a bracket with a light ; near it are various jugs on a shelf. An example of the Teniers-like period. Very loose in style. Signed with the monogram ; panel, 14! inches by i inches. Exhibited at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, London, 1894, No. 90. Sales. Jaques Meyers, Rotterdam, September 9, 1722 (Hoet, i. 281), No. 169 (202 florins). Duke of Hamilton, Hamilton Palace, June 17, 1882 (^609, lonides) it was in the collection in 1854 (Waagen, iii. 300). In the collection of Constantine A. lonides, London, who bequeathed it to South Kensington in 1899. In the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London ; lonides bequest, 1904 catalogue, No. 80.
- 78. PEASANTS SINGING IN A ROOM. On the right is a
blazing fire. To the left, near it, are five peasants, three of them seated. The man on the left, turned three-quarters right, has folded his arms and sings with wide-open mouth ; his cap is awry. Behind him to the right a man seen in full face holds a music-book. Farther to the right, but in front of the second man, a third man stands singing and holding the tongs. Behind him stands a fourth peasant, seen in full face, who presses his left forefinger to his nose. Beside him to the left stands a fifth man who bends forward, with his face half hidden by his hat ; he holds up a beer- glass in his right hand. In the right foreground is a wooden bench ; on the floor is a jug. To the left, near the group, is a stool with a covered jug on it. On the extreme left is a still-life group, consisting of a tub on which are a drinking-cup and a pot and round which stand various utensils, with a bundle of onions and beans. In the left background a
