The Smoker

attributed to Adriaen Brouwer, c. 1635 - c. 1640

Slouching in his chair, with his breeches open, the man blows smoke from his pipe through his nose. His eyes are glazed, as though he is in a stupor. In the 17th century smoking had fervent supporters as well as opponents. Some scholars held that tobacco smoke was therapeutic for both body and spirit; others were convinced that pipe-smoking was as harmful as excessive drinking.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-4040
  • Dimensionssupport: height 29.7 cm x width 21.5 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • The Smoker
    • Man Smoking in a Tavern

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-4040

  • Description

    Herberginterieur met een zittende rokende man. In de rechterhand een pijp, in de linker een kruik. Links een man die op de tafel voorover in slaap is gevallen. Rechts komt een man door de deur binnen.

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    painter: attributed to Adriaen Brouwer

  • Dating

    c. 1635 - c. 1640

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on panel

  • Dimensions

    support: height 29.7 cm x width 21.5 cm

Explanatory note

  • Vergelijkbaar exemplaar op de veiling collectie monsieur L. Salavin, Palais Galliera (Parijs), 1973-12-05, nr. 9 met afb. [voorheen collectie Rudolf Ward en collectie Moreau-Nelaton], Deze is vervolgens geveild te Parijs 1977-03-21, nr. 17 met afb. [8.35 x 27.5 cm]. Een ander variant bevond zich op de veiling Tableaux Anciens Palais Galliera (Parijs), 1969-03-21, nr. 149 met afb. [8.33 x 25 cm; gesigneerd rechts onder B; verzameling Baron de Beuruonville, veiling Parijs 1883-05-21, nr. 49; Hofstede de Groot III, nr. 152].

This work is about

  • Subject

Exhibitions

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland

  • Acquisition

    bequest 1961

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; collection William Theobald (1795-1850);{Information kindly provided by Caroline Carr-Whitworth, Curator Art, English Heritage, 2009, who also provided information about the picture’s history at Brodsworth. The house is now owned by English Heritage.} his daughter, Georgiana Theobald, and her husband Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson (?-1885), in the library at Brodsworth Hall, near Doncaster, Yorkshire, as anonymous (‘Figure of a man smoking and two other figures on panel’), 1885;{_An Inventory of the Household Effects … Late the Property of C.S.A. Thelluson Esq., Valued for Probate 1885 Dowsett and Woods_, at Brodsworth; information kindly provided by Richard Green (York).} by descent to his great nephew Charles Grant-Dalton (1884-1952), 1931 (but not included in the inventory made in that year);{_A. Thelluson decd. Inventory etc._, 1931, at Brodsworth. A note on the cover of the inventory states ‘Everything except pictures’, though six pictures were listed as in the library. Omitted were the Rijksmuseum picture and an equestrian portrait, which is still at Brodsworth; information kindly provided by Richard Green. It is likely the work was sold by Charles Grant-Dalton (1884-1952); no record of the transaction has been found.}…; from the dealer Arthur Tooth to P. & D. Colnaghi, London, 1936;{Colnaghi records 1894-1939, picture stock books, on loan to Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire.} from whom, £ 750, to Isaäc de Bruijn (1872-1953) and his wife Johanna Geertruida de Bruijn-Van der Leeuw (1877-1960), Spiez and Muri, near Bern, 1936; by whom donated to the museum, with a life interest, December 1961; on loan to the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1963-98; on loan to the Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, 2004-11

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

    • Documentatiemap Schilderijen: inventariskaart; foto; dendrochronologisch rapport, Universiteit Hamburg, 2007-08-31; aantekening I. de Bruijn.
    • E. de Jongh, 'Vermommingen van vrouw in de wereld', Album Amicorum J.G. van Gelder (1973), p. 204, noot 41.
    • H.L. Jaffé, Du (1944), p. 45 met afb.
    • Simon Schama, 'Overvloed en onbehagen, de Nederlandse cultuur in de Gouden eeuw', afb. p. 207.

Persistent URL

Questions?

Do you spot a mistake? Or do you have information about the object? Let us know!