These attractive little copper plates are attributed to Melchior Brassaw, painter registered with the guild of Saint Luke who painted religious subjects as well as portraits and genre paintings.
This series of eight oils on copper highlights men and women in their daily lives: a woman with a mousetrap, a poultry seller, a man reading a letter for another, giving him news, a glasses merchant, a tutor giving a reading lesson, a woman unwinding a ball of yarn, a lace maker, a man with a tankard (beer mug) in his hand.
From the texts by Sandrine Le Bideau in the catalog Flemish and Dutch paintings—Collection of the Châteauroux museums (Peintures Flamande et Hollandaise—Collection des Musées de Châteauroux) Somogy-Editions d'Art.