The Gay Party

Rotterdam-born painter, draughtsman, and etcher Willem Pietersz Buytewech the Elder (Dutch, ca. 1585-1625/1627) apprenticed in Haarlem. In 1612 he joined Haarlem's St Luke's guild where he became associated with Frans Hals. Buytewech returned to Rotterdam after he was married.

Working at the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age, Buytewech is considered one of the first Dutch artists to depict fun through group paintings featuring "dandies, fashionable ladies, topers, and lusty wenches." This category of painting is now known as the "Merry Company" (Merry Company, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam).