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An Itinerant Musician saluting Two Women in a Kitchen

Photo credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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This grisaille work (painted in shades of black, white and grey) is a copy of a picture by Jan Steen known as ‘Old Wooer, Young Maid’. It’s a more appropriate title, emphasising that the man is probably making advances to the younger of the two women, who turns towards him. The flute protruding from the man’s pocket suggests he is an itinerant musician, but it may also have phallic overtones. The discarded mussel shells on the floor may have been understood as suggestive of female sexuality. If not a brothel, the setting is certainly a tavern, and women drinking in such places would often have been involved in prostitution. But, as is typical in Steen’s pictures, there’s a high degree of amusement on the faces of those depicted.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

An Itinerant Musician saluting Two Women in a Kitchen

Date

probably about 1770

Medium

Oil on paper

Measurements

H 46 x W 36.8 cm

Accession number

NG1378

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Sir William H. Gregory, 1892

Work type

Painting

Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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