Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/255

 i JAN STEEN 231 a girl, pointing to the drunkard, hands his well-filled purse to a man who appears at the open window. In the left foreground is a chair. Signed ; canvas, 42 inches by 33 inches. Sale. Wurster, Cologne, June 15, 1896, No. 290. [Compare 840^.] 852. A SCENE IN A BROTHEL. On a low stool sits a jovial fellow, kicking out his feet for amusement and holding his glass high in the air with his right hand. While he diverts himself with a girl seated on his right, a man standing on his left steals his purse from his pocket while filling his glass with the other hand. In the foreground are a char- coal-pan and a clay pipe on a pillow. Panel, n^ inches by 9^ inches. [Described from a reproduction in a sale catalogue.] Now in the collection of H. Pickersgill Cunliffe, London. 853. A GIRL WITH OYSTERS. Sm. 41 ; W. 25. At a table to the right sits a girl whose figure is turned to the left almost in profile. She wears a red jacket trimmed with ermine, and has pearls and a yellow ribbon in her hair. On the table are some oysters ; she holds one in her hand. At the back, through an open door, is the kitchen, in which a man and a woman are opening oysters. On the right is a bed. The picture is most exquisitely rendered. The head, the hands, and the various acces- sories recall the delicacy of Mieris, and the colour has the freshness of Metsu. Panel, 8 inches by 5^ inches, rounded off at the top. Described by Nagler. Sale. P. Locquet, Amsterdam, September 22, 1783, No. 349 (501 florins, Van Winter). In the Van Winter collection, Amsterdam. In the collection of Six Van Hillegom, 1833 (Sm.). Now in the collection of Jan Six, Amsterdam, No. 140. 854. THE SPENDTHRIFT (or, Lightly Come and Lightly Go). Sm. 148 ; W. 87. Five persons are in a large room hung with tapestry. At a table before the hearth sits a man dressed in black silk with a lace collar. A young woman offers him wine. Near them a woman is opening oysters. Behind the young woman stands a man with a red cap. In the foreground a boy pours wine from a bottle into a jug. A dog sniffs at a half-peeled lemon placed on a chair in front. To the left is seen an adjacent room, in which two men are playing backgammon. Above the chimney-piece is a picture of Fortune, inscribed, "Soo gewonnen soo verteerd " ("Lightly come and lightly go"). This picture was the finest of the three by Jan Steen in the Hope collection. But there is perhaps too large a patch of white in the centre, formed by the table-cloth and the light dress of the woman. The vista and the effect of light are very delicate. Signed in full, and dated 1661 ; canvas, 32 inches by 42 inches. Described by Nagler, Waagen (ii. 1 18), and Ch. Blanc. Exhibited at the British Institution, 1815 ; at Manchester, 1857, No. 936;