A Peasant Scene

An unknown artist sketched this jovial peasant scene with rapid strokes and deft applications of gray wash. Near the center of the drawing, an aggressive looking man with a clenched fist approaches another who laughs while gesturing at his foot. Two others hover around a wine barrel, watching the impending fight before they fill their jug at the barrel. In the background, three men gather around a table with a dog.

The artist used gray ink and black chalk to outline the men, the buildings, and the loosely sketched trees in the background. Then he added gray wash, not only to create folds and texture on the men's clothing, but also to give definition to the arched building in the foreground and deepen the shadows on the barrel and in the darkened doorway. The scene, with its caricatured cast and bold lighting, vividly captures the atmosphere of Holland's village life in the 1600s.