David Teniers the Younger, An Old Peasant caresses a Kitchen Maid in a Stable

David Teniers the Younger made his fortune painting bawdy scenes like this one. They were popular with wealthy collectors who were proud of their own good manners compared with those ascribed to peasants (they also found the pictures amusing).

In this painting, Teniers has created screened entrances and exits for the characters in his story, like a stage set. A short wall protrudes into the space on one side, an open door on the other, with an enormous butter churn and an unlit stove flat against the wall like a painted backcloth. He has dressed the foreground with an unlikely amount of large kitchen utensils, ingeniously arranged on either side like the painted wings in a theatre. They engage the eye but also demonstrate Teniers’s skill in painting textures. A metal and glass lantern sits close to an enormous earthenware pot and a draped piece of cloth while, on the other side of the picture, a besom broom leans against a heavy wooden table with a slipware jug on it. The jug glints with the reflection of an unseen window.

The unfortunate young woman on her knees has lost a shoe – perhaps in her efforts to scour yet another pot, but more likely startled by the unwelcome advances of the old man. This painting may be a slice of life, but it could also derive from the comic stock characters performed by companies of Italian travelling players, the commedia dell‘arte. The peasant in Teniers’ picture resembles the character Pantalone, or Pantaloon, a stupid old man with a bulbous nose and white beard. But the jaunty feather in his cap here suggests he is crafty enough to take advantage of any situation, especially one involving a woman. He sits with his legs apart, his breeches open – but empty – at the crotch, suggesting that he’s all talk and no action (a common joke in the commedia dell’arte). The comic old women were often played by male actors bundled up in female garments, but in these genre paintings they are simply made grotesque. In this picture, the eyes of the old woman peeking round the door aren’t on the old man, as might be expected. She beckons to the cat, likely to be a symbol of lasciviousness. The suggestion appears to be that if the cat obeys and runs to her, the old man will do likewise.

David Teniers made his fortune painting bawdy scenes like this one. They were popular with wealthy collectors, who were proud of their own good manners compared with those ascribed to peasants, but found the pictures amusing too. He was influenced by Adriaen Brouwer, who also painted such scenes (but far more bawdy than Teniers’ own – for example, Tavern Scene). Another painting in the National Gallery’s collection, A View of a Village with Three Peasants talking in the Foreground, appears to draw on the commedia dell’arte, while A Man holding a Glass and an Old Woman lighting a Pipe is another kitchen scene.