(Antwerp 1593–1678)
The Satyr and the Peasant,
oil on canvas, 156.5 x 177.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 4 October 2006, lot 194;
European Private Collection

When the present painting was sold at the Dorotheum in October 2006, it came with two certificates compiled by Ludwig Burchard and Hermann Voss (both in photocopy and now lost). Their authors were of the opinion that the work was indisputably by the hand of Jacob Jordaens. The painting was indeed executed in the workshop of Jacob Jordaens and varies an autograph composition by the master, now in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Kassel. It differs from the Kassel painting in the incorporation of a wall with a window into the left half of the picture. When the painting was offered for the first time at the Dorotheum in 2006, the upper, left and right corners of the composition had been extended. As a result of this enlarged format, the scene could be thematically expanded. A girl with a dog was added to the left corner, while a rooster, clay pots and a bunch of garlic appeared above. A restoration that took place after 2006 removed these additions, thus restoring the original state.

The subject is based on a fable by Aesop. The slow-witted satyr is irritated at the peasant’s ambiguous behaviour, who, working on the cold field, blows on his hands to warm them, then later blows on his hot soup to cool it.