Tavern Scene

In 1698 Max Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria and at that time governor of the Spanish Netherlands, bought a large group of pictures in Antwerp from the collector Gijsbert van Colen, and this panel went with them into his collection. His inventory gave it a nickname, das berühmte kleine Bordell, the famous little brothel.

The name fits. In a dingy tavern a few drinkers squat on low stools while a man, his trousers open, wedges a woman's legs apart with his knee and forces his hand up her skirts. She fights back, gripping his hair, and the onlookers leer and smirk. An overturned flagon spills its ale on the floor. Brouwer painted it about 1635, and at 48 by 67 centimetres it is one of the largest and rowdiest of his tavern scenes. The National Gallery bought it in 2002.