Figures in the Courtyard of an Old Building

Viewed as if standing in the shadows, the muted, earthy tones of this painting harmonise across a carefully arranged tableau. The characters are positioned under a gently curving archway, forming a frame within a frame which mirrors the smaller arch behind. The scene is rendered with precise detail: the brickwork of the arch, the broken panes of glass and even the individual leaves of the creeper that covers the thatched roof of the wooden lean-to building are all carefully delineated. Clothes are hung out to dry, their tones matching the earthen floor, with the woman’s russet skirt adding the only flash of colour. Such scenes of everyday life, known as genre paintings, often contained lessons in morality. Here, with the donkey resting in the shadows, a secular nativity scene is suggested. There is an air of contentment, with the faithful companions of the dog and cat resting calmly beside their owners. The man gazes at the mother and child, one crumpled stocking falling unheeded below his knee, and a pipe in his hand. Smoking was considered an unsavoury behaviour, but here the pipe is unlit, perhaps inferring that familial responsibilities overcome vices.

In a departure from his better-known scenes of raucous merriment, this painting by Dutch artist Cornelis Dusart (1660-1704) mirrors a trend for depictions of rural life that appealed to the urban middle classes of the mid-seventeenth century. Born in Haarlem, Dusart entered the Haarlem Painter’s Guild in 1679. As a pupil of the Dutch painter Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85), he continued to produce genre scenes in his master’s style. Dusart also became a draughtsman, printmaker and art dealer, whose works included many highly detailed drawings of peasants in chalks and watercolours.