Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/245

 i JAN STEEN 221 8 1 6. The Declaration of Love. An old man, who is seen in profile and who wears a tall hat with a tassel and a brown cloak, is courting a stout girl and makes her a proposal. She sits quietly with folded hands. She wears a small black cap and a grey costume, the coat of which is thrown back and shows her red bodice. On the right an old woman with a black cap comes forward to keep watch on the importunate old man. The group is painted in strong, warm tones, relieved against a highly illumined white wall. Panel, n inches by 8| inches. Sale. Baron de Beurnonville, Paris, May 9, 1881, No. 485. 817. AN INTERIOR. In the centre a girl stands and drinks a glass of wine. Near her on the right sits a woman, at whose side is a man in a broad-brimmed hat. At a table on the left are four men ; farther back are two persons conversing. The effect of colour is fine. Signed on the right with the monogram ; panel, i6| inches by 22 inches. In the possession of the dealer F. Kleinberger, Paris. Sale. Haemacher, Amsterdam, November 30, 1897, No. 103 (1850 florins, Foinard). 817*. The Lovers. Panel, 10 inches by 8 inches. Sale. Von Woyna and others, Bonn, March i, 1898, No. 207. 8 1 8. A MERRY COMPANY. A young man in a broad-brimmed hat jests with a peasant woman who sits beside him at a table. He pours out wine for her from a pewter pot in his left hand. Farther back are two peasant women at the hearth. Signed in full on a wooden platform in the centre ; 18 inches by 14^ inches. Sale. Berlin, March 20, 1900, No. 17. 819. LOVERS UNDER A TREE. The man has flung himself upon the girl and with both arms presses her to the ground that he may kiss her. His hat has fallen off. Near the girl are two baskets of eatables. In the roots of the tree to the left a rabbit looks out of its burrow. A bird-cage hangs from a bough. Farther back on the right is a wood, and beyond it is a view of a plain. It is a good picture, full of humour and with a fine landscape. [Compare 796.] Signed in full in the left-hand bottom corner ; canvas, 26 inches by inches. Exhibited at The Hague, 1890, No. 100. Sales. H. ten Kate, Amsterdam, June 10, 1801, No. 146 (205 florins, Pruyssenaar). F. von Rinecker, Cologne, October 30, 1888, No. 33 (950 marks, A. H. H. van den Burgh). A. H. H. van den Burgh of The Hague, Amsterdam, September 21, 1904, No. 38 (3000 florins, Hamburger). 820. THE DECLARATION OF LOVE. W. 441. In an