The Consultation

Signed D. Teniers, The Consultation leads us into the chamber of a dispenser, with overtones of an alchemical laboratory. The artist treats the poorly appointed surroundings (perceived as mysterious and esoteric by the characters) with gentle indulgence and good humoured irony in the representation of the elaborate procedures and paper work necessary for a simple urine test. The clarity of the artistic means and intention of the painter finds its perfect embodiment in the recreation of the tension of the moment. The patient, an ignorant woman, is waiting for the verdict of the dispenser, in unwitting contraposition to the apprentice hidden behind the half-open door, while the ambers in the fireplace spread a mysterious glow. The entire scene is treated in various tones of grey and in harmonies of beige. The woman in blue makes a figure apart within the compositional and chromatic structure of the painting and, evidently, she was introduced by Teniers to provide a contrast to her odd surroundings. ©Dana Roxana Hrib, European Art Gallery Guidebook, Second edition, Sibiu 2011.