(Antwerp 1612–1661)
Invitation to a duet,
oil on canvas, 55 x 67.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Austria, since the 1970s

Literature:
B. van Haute, David Ryckaert III, A Seventeenth Century Flemish Painter of Peasant Scenes, The Hague 2000, cat. no. A.120, pp. 133–134, 358, ill.

The present suggestive scene, from the hand of the Flemish genre master David Ryckaert III, with its bold colouring, dramatic costumes and trompe l’oeil effects is a fascinating example of the master’s diverse oeuvre. The archaic costume of the minstrel, replete with the hidden sexual symbolism implied by the act of making music, along with the theatrical setting, immediately captivates the viewer. Indeed, the spatial effects employed by Ryckaert here – on right the scarlet curtain apparently draped over the picture plane, and on the left, the bucolic view, which could either be a genuine staircase leading down to the paysage behind or simply a painted backdrop - render the whole setting a sort of theatrical stage, are most intriguing. Finally, the brilliance with which he renders the foreground still-life details, such as the clay wine jar, lend the whole composition a carefully conceived balance. Van Haute suggests a date of execution for the present work between 1650 and 1653 (see literature).

David Ryckaert III was born to a famous Antwerp artistic dynasty. He was one of Flanders’s leading painters of genre scenes, along with Adriaen Brouwer and David Teniers II. Furthermore, in spite of their styles differing tremendously, Peter Paul Rubens thought highly enough of Ryckaert to commission him to assist in the decorations required for the final triumphal arch for the Joyous Entry of Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand into Antwerp in 1635. Among Ryckaert’s pupils were Erasmus de Bie and Jacobe Lafosse II.