Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/223

 i JAN STEEN 199 men and women fill the scene. On the right some sit round a table. The sky is overcast. Panel, 19! inches by 28 inches. Exhibited at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, London, 1885, No. 74. In the collection of A. P. Heywood-Lonsdale, London. 744. PEASANTS AT PLAY. In the courtyard of a village inn two peasants throw a ball through a ring. Near them are three onlookers, one of whom is at a window on the left. In the foreground sits a young man who tries to pull the hostess by her skirt on to the bench ; she wears a blue skirt and a red bodice. Between them is a peasant with a glass in his hand ; farther back on the right are two children. Signed, but the signature is false (according to the Brunsvik catalogue) ; panel, 18 inches by 22 J inches. Sales. Taets van Amerongen, Amsterdam, July 3, 1805, No. 140 (95 florins). Brunsvik, Vienna, November 25, 1902, No. 317 (priced at 300 florins). In the possession of the dealers Sulley and Co., London. 744*7. Peasants at Play. W. 282. Sale. The Hague, November 24, 1744 (Hoet, ii. 152), No. 20 (52 florins) ; a pendant to No. 19 (469^). 744^. An Interior with a Company at Play. Sale. Amsterdam, July 22, 1814, No. 78. 745. THE COCKFIGHT. Sm. 159 ; W. 98. In the foreground of a landscape twelve persons watch a cockfight. A youth in a yellowish- brown jacket and a rough woollen cap kneels on the ground, holding a blood-stained bird ; behind him a woman converses with a peasant. Near the woman is a boy looking sadly at his defeated bird. On the other side an elderly man stretches out his hand to receive payment of the bet that he has won from a young man. At the back an old man sits under a tree, laughing. The colouring is transparent, and the execution spirited and careful. Signed in full on the right ; canvas 35 1 inches by 46 inches. Described by Descamps, Ch. Blanc, Nagler, and Waagen (iii. 477). Exhibited at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, London, 1893, No. 83. Sales. E. van Dishoek, The Hague, June 9, 1745, No. 18 (220 florins). W. Lormier, The Hague, July 4, 1763, No. 246 (289 florins, Palthe). Now in the collection of the Marquis of Bute, St. John's Lodge, London (where Sm. saw it in 1833). 746. THE COCKFIGHT. A tall picture. In the possession of the dealer M. Colnaghi, London, 1892-93 ; in that of the dealer Lesser, London, December 1906. 747. The Cockfight. Sm. Suppl. 60 ; W. 392. About twenty persons are assembled in a large room. In the right foreground two men dispute about the result of a cockfight. One, who has a jug in his hand, is restrained by a woman from attacking the other, who demands payment