Mathys Schoevaerts

Provenance: private collection

In the panoramic sweep of the overall composition, the minute rendering of the many anecdotal details, as well as the quality of the painterly treatment applied...

Provenance: private collection

In the panoramic sweep of the overall composition, the minute rendering of the many anecdotal details, as well as the quality of the painterly treatment applied here, this pair of small copper panels immediately stands out as one of the most emblematic achievements among the refined body of work created by this transitional artist active at the crossover from the 16th to the17th century, Mathys Schoevaerdts.

While the river landscape concentrates on the depiction of transactions and movements (be they among the peasants, travellers, or the livestock), the other painting shows a much more festive and contemplative side of life, as it is devoted entirely to the detailed illustration of a village feast. The exhaustive enumeration of the topoï of the genre may appear somewhat fastidious but it should be emphasized that from the crowd raptly watching the buffoonery on the makeshift stage to the seller of potatoes in the foreground, not to mention the young boys playing with hoops, the colourful details are abundant and display the skilful hand of a master clearly as much at ease in the expressive characterization of groups of figures as in the presentation of a coherent space defined through landscape and architecture. More careful examination reveals one last detail that is striking indeed, that of the engravings, surely representing pious themes, hung up on the left side of the church in the background: they form a witty and no doubt slightly subversive way for the painter to introduce into this peaceful celebration of village diversions and activities a reminder of the moralizing and sometimes hypocritical warnings of the establishment.