David Teniers

Signed D-TENIERS-FE

Bears the arms of Antwerp and the inscription ‘D.Teniers Matignon Duc de Vaudron 1725’ on the back

Provenance:

• Duc de Vaudron’s collection, 1725;

• Madame...

Signed D-TENIERS-FE

Bears the arms of Antwerp and the inscription ‘D.Teniers Matignon Duc de Vaudron 1725’ on the back

Provenance:

• Duc de Vaudron’s collection, 1725;

• Madame Clinton-Baker’s collection;

• Sale at Sotheby’s, London, 26 February 1958, lot 31;

• Martin Asscher’s collection, 1970 ;

• Duits’ collection, London;

• private collection.

A recurring theme in the works of David Teniers II, ‘charlatanism’ is ingeniously depicted in this painting as a man masquerading as a surgeon at the expense of his patient. In this form, the subject may also be seen as an allegory of the sense of touch. All of David Teniers satirical wit is expressed in this wonderful scene illustrating the trials and tribulations of a peasant visiting a country surgeon.

Our panel is similar to the painting with the same title currently kept at the Szépmüvészeti Muzeum in Budapest. Here, this composition has been reduced to a close-up, portraying an old peasant being examined by a country Aesculapius, accompanied by some apprentice and a woman. The latter, perhaps a relation of the patient or some sort of nurse with dubious skills, formally and dramatically closes the triad of figures, a little like Salome’s assistant, but also one of those old go-betweens that are recurrently found in romantic scenes in Flemish and Dutch 17th century painting.

The ill-assorted collection of phials, jars and other disparate accessories furnishing this makeshift surgery suggest a clear lack of professionalism. This idea is reinforced by the owl which was the symbol of stupidity and gullibility in the 17th century. It echoes the usual satirical representation of the charlatan. The brass bowl, a specific tool for shaving, reveals the true profession of this supposed surgeon to be nothing more than a barber. This particularity of the barber’s profession, which sometimes led them to act as surgeons, is in fact corroborated by the history of medicine. It reveals that this kind of practice was fairly common up until the 19th century.

The meticulous and polished technique of this painting shows David Teniers at his peak. Owing to the quality of the painting as well as the rendering of the objects (the glass phials, the stoneware jars, the beaten-earth floor or the fabric of the clothing), Margret Klinge has dated this panel in the middle of the 1660s.

Like Pieter Brueghel the Elder, whose influence is noticeable over several generations, David Teniers’ work is echoed through the centuries and across borders, even influencing French 18th century painting, especially the works of Watteau.

1610 Antwerp - Brussels 1690
David Teniers is, with Adriaen Brouwer, one the greatest Flemish genre painters of the XVII century. His village scenes were used as models for the XVII and XVIII...