42 FRANS HALS SECT. A repetition of this picture is in the Heseltine collection [see 140]. Sales. J. A. Versijden van Varick, Leyden, October 29, 1791, No. 103 (i 30 florins). Copes van Hasselt of Haarlem, Amsterdam, April 20, 1880, No. i. Pourtales, Paris. In the possession of the London dealer Duveen. In the collection of B. Altman, New York. 140. Junker Ramp and his Girl. Repetition of 139. But the curtain behind the man is here replaced by the room-wall with a picture. Panel, 26 inches by 21 inches. In the collection of J. P. Heseltine, London, 1908 catalogue, No. 4. 141. A MERRY COMPANY AT TABLE. B. 75; M. 208. A young woman, richly dressed in white satin, with an overdress of a deep orange colour, sits at a table in the centre, facing the spectator. Her silk sleeves are trimmed with lace, and she has a broad lace collar leaving the throat open. At her throat and wrists she wears strings of coral. Her fair hair, crowned with laurel, falls down in long curls. Her left hand rests on the table ; her right is raised, with the forefinger erect. She looks up to the right with a smile at a man who stands behind her and leans his right elbow on the back of her chair. He has a slight moustache and beard, wears a grey cloak and a red cap, and carries a cane in his left hand. Behind the woman to the left is_ a laughing man with a very ruddy face and a beard. He rests his cheek against her head, and lays his left hand on her left shoulder. He is in black, and wears a big grey hat with a clay pipe on the broad brim. Round his shoulders is a string of pea-pods, egg- shells, herrings, and a sheep's foot. He looks straight at the spectator and holds up a fox's brush in his right hand. Behind him to the left a third man dressed in green, with a wooden spoon in his red cap, opens his mouth wide as if he is shouting. He raises his right hand ; his left hand rests on his cheek, but two of the fingers are erect. On the table in the centre, which is covered with a green cloth, are an open wooden mug, a plate of sausage, bagpipes, a bowl of charcoal, and other accessories. Dark-green background. Painted about 1615, according to the New York catalogue. Dirck Hals used the picture for the principal group of his " Festin Champe'tre " in the Louvre with slight variations ; it was not copied from Dirck. Signed with the monogram on the mug; canvas, 51 inches by 39 inches. Mentioned by Dr. Bode in Der Cicerone, February and May 1909. Exhibited at the Palais du Corps Legislatif, Paris, 1874, No. 844. Exhibited at the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1909, No. 22A. In the Cocret collection, Paris. In the possession of the Paris dealer F. Kleinberger, 1907. In the collection of B. Altman, New York. 142. The Cross- bow- Man and the Milkmaid. An elderly man in red with a cross-bow is aiming at the mark. Behind him stands a
