Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/44

 20 JAN STEEN SECT. tend to the perfecting of the composition. This was painted in the best period of the master, and is distinguished for the clearness and beauty of the colouring " (Sm.). Compare (60 1). Canvas, 45 inches by 54! inches. Sales. A. Van Lennep, Amsterdam, July 24, 1792, No. 5 (875 florins, bought in). Madame Van Leyden, Warmond, July 31, 1816. Paillet, Paris, 1814 (8870 francs). Duchesse de Berry, the Elysee, Paris, April 4, 1837 (21,000 francs) ; or 14,175 francs, according to Sm.). P. Perrier, Paris, 1843 (7840 florins). Now in the collection of the Due d'Arenberg, Brussels, 1859, catalogue by W. Burger, No. 58. 47. THE MARRIAGE AT CAN A. Sm. 100. At the back of a vaulted hall, garlanded with flowers, the wedding guests are seated at table ; above them in a gallery musicians are playing. In the middle distance to the left stands Jesus, performing the miracle with outstretched right hand. In the left foreground a woman reclines upon the staircase ; she leans with her right arm upon a cask and lets a boy drink from her glass. On the right the corpulent butler offers a glass of the miraculous wine to a fiddler ; a woman in a black cloak stands near him. Signed in full in the right-hand bottom corner ; oak panel, 23^ inches by 19 inches. Sale. W. Fabricius, Haarlem, August 19, 1749, No. 13 (200 florins). Now in the Royal Picture Gallery, Dresden, 1905 catalogue, No. 1725. 48. THE MARRIAGE AT CAN A. Sm. 100 and Suppl. 52 ; W. 85. In a large vaulted hall with pillars, a company of twenty-nine persons is assembled at a table standing on a platform. Musicians are playing in a gallery supported on pillars. In the centre Christ is in the act of turning the water into wine. To the left on the steps is Jan Steen as the host ; he is turning to go because the wine is finished, but a woman pushes him back and a guest holds him fast by the doublet. In the fore- ground are ten persons ; four of them are tasting the wine. Among them is a lady in grey silk who raises a glass to her lips ; a Turk in a yellow dress with a red turban looks at her incredulously. Behind them is a negro servant. A dwarf and other persons fill the scene. The execution is exceptionally delicate, with abundant detail. The colour is excellent, especially in the rendering of the draperies. "The total incapacity of Jan Steen to render the necessary dignity of character and expression to his figures, so indispensable to an historical subject, is no less evident in this picture than in every other example of a similar kind ; in all other respects the talents and genius of the artist are strikingly evinced" (Sm.). Signed with the monogram ; canvas, 25 inches by 32! inches. Described by Waagen (iii. 207, and Suppl. 296) and Ch. Blanc. Exhibited at Manchester 1857, No. 946; at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, 1882, No. 55 ; at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1900, No. 44. Sales. A. van Hoek, Amsterdam, April 7, 1806 (555 florins).