David Ryckaert III was a follower of the celebrated master of genre painting Adriaen Brouwer. The Hermitage's pair of paintings by Ryckaert owe both their subject and their composition to works by Brouwer: Peasant with a Dog derives from Brouwer's work Good Friends, which also depicts a peasant with a dog. In Ryckaert's canvas, however, the subject is expanded with the motif of training the animal: the elderly man is holding the little dog by the paw and giving it the command "Sit!". Peasant Woman with a Cat goes back to Brouwer's Woman with a Cat. In the Hermitage painting Ryckaert added amusing details: the old woman is feeding porridge on a spoon to the cat that is wrapped in a blanket like an infant. David Ryckaert III's genre scenes have at the same time a hidden metaphorical meaning. The painting of Peasant with a Dog can be interpreted as an "allegory of the sense of touch" and its companion piece as an "allegory of taste".
Author:
Title:
Peasant with a Dog
Place:
Date:
Material:
Technique:
oil
Dimensions:
26,5x37 cm
Acquisition date:
Entered the Hermitage in 1769; acquired from the Heinrich von Brühl collection, Dresden
Inventory Number:
ГЭ-654
Comment:
Pair to the painting "Peasant Woman with a Cat"
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Collection:
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