Hendrick Martensz Sorgh Cheerful peasant company... Lot 1037

Hendrick Martensz Sorgh Cheerful peasant company in an interior Oil on wood. 56 x 70 cm. Provenance Belgian private collection. The present interior scene is a characteristic work by the Dutch genre painter Hendrick Maertensz Sorgh. Fred Meijer dates it to around 1645-1650, a time when Sorgh specialized in peasant interiors under the influence of Adriaen Brouwer's pictorial inventions and the paintings of his compatriots Cornelis and Herman Saftleven, who were still living in Rotterdam. A "Merry Peasant Company" comparable in composition and richness of detail, which can be interpreted as a depiction of the Five Senses, was auctioned at Lempertz on 21.5.2022 (lot 2072, proceeds € 150,000). The attribution has been confirmed by Guido Jansen and Fred Meijer (written communication dated 25.10.2023).