Réjouissances de carnaval

This is one of the earliest paintings Frans Hals left us, made around 1616 in Haarlem, and it drops us into the noise of Shrovetide, the days of eating and misrule that came right before the fasting of Lent, the Dutch cousin of Mardi Gras. The two grinning men beside the girl aren't only revellers, they're stock clowns from the popular stage. One, called Hans Worst, has a sausage dangling from his cap. The other, Pekelharing, wears a garland of salted fish and eggs. The richly dressed young woman between them is almost certainly a boy in costume, since women weren't allowed to perform on these occasions. Everything heaped on the table is the food of the feast, laid out to be gone by Ash Wednesday.