Adriaen BrouwerFlemish, 1605–1638Poor Folk Drinking in a Tavern
Can I see it?
Unknown
Where is “Poor Folk Drinking in a Tavern” now? Collection: Mauritshuis, The Hague. Unknown.
The Hague, Netherlands
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Adriaen Brouwer (1605/06 - 1638). Peasant drinking bout, c. 1625/1627. In a miserable room full of peasants, drinking and smoking, depicts the intoxicating consequences of tobacco and alcohol. One group of men are shouting drunkenly, a women lying on the floor has fallen asleep, totally unaware of her howling child. The sleeping man has his hand in his coat, which at the time was a clear reference to sloth, one of the seven cardinal sins. Brouwer employed a modicum of resources to portray these peasant types. Starting with a brown undercoat, he painted the composition in light strokes of grey, reddish brown and pink; a few clear colours served as accents. Acquired together with the Van Heteren Gevers collection, The Hague- Rotterdam, 1809. On loan to the Mauritshuis in The Hague from 1948 to 2002.
Mauritshuis
Details
- Accession number
- 847
What it shows
In the catalog
Display history
Whether it is on view today is unknown
Mauritshuis · Sep 29, 2026 — now · Unconfirmed
Whether it was on view is unknown
Rijksmuseum · Unconfirmed
Sources
- Rijksmuseum
- Image: Mauritshuis — Adriaen Brouwer · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
In the life of Adriaen Brouwer
The whole lifeMarch 1625
Amsterdam: lodging at van Someren's inn
By March 1625 Brouwer is recorded in Amsterdam, where he lived at the inn of the painter Barend van Someren, another Fleming who had settled in the Dutch Republic.
1626 · Workplace
Haarlem
1626
Haarlem: the chamber of rhetoric “De Wijngaertranken”
In 1626 the records place Brouwer both in Amsterdam and in Haarlem, where he may already have been living. There he took part in the chamber of rhetoric “De Wijngaertranken” (motto: “In Love Above All Else”) and came under the influence of the genre painter Dirck Hals.
1631
Returns to Antwerp and joins the Guild of St Luke
Brouwer returns to his native Flanders and is registered as a master in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke, even before becoming a citizen of Antwerp. He lived and worked in the city until his death.
1631–1638
Debts and want in Antwerp
Brouwer's name regularly appears in Antwerp records in connection with the settlement of his debts; in his lifetime his paintings did not fetch high prices, and his household goods were seized for his creditors. His fellow artists valued him more highly than the market did: Rubens bought several of his pictures for his collection and tried to extend his patronage to the “incorrigible carouser”.
1631–1638 · Workplace
Antwerp
