Jacob Jordaens

J. Soloman;
Sold by Mrs. Soloman, London, Christie's, July 14, 1930, lot 115, to Rosenbaum;
offered to Christer Nystrom, February 26, 1968;
with Matthiesen Gallery and Michael Simpson Ltd., London, by 1992.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This imposing picture has been quite recently restored and should be hung as is. The paint layer has been cleaned, varnished, retouched and the canvas has been lined rather recently using glue as an adhesive. The restoration has been very sympathetic and some pentiments are still quite visible to the naked eye in the cheek of the child on the right side. Elsewhere there is a curved restoration in the shadowed breast of the mother on the left side, some retouches visible in the head of the child addressing some thinness on the left side and beneath this child's feet in the gown of the mother which has been retouched. Elsewhere there are restorations here and there yet none of them addressing any more than isolated losses and abrasions; for instance, the dark areas in the upper right corner and the dark colors of the ceramics in the upper center and upper left show restorations. In general this picture may be commended for its condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The subject of The Satyr and the Peasant Family derives from Aesop's Fables, LXXIV, the story of a man lost in the woods on cold night and a satyr who offers to take him in.  The satyr does not understand why the man repeatedly blows on his hands, and the man explains it is to keep them warm.  When they reach the satyr's hut, he gives the man some porridge.  The man blows on the porridge and explains to the puzzled satyr it is to cool the food off.  At this the satyr tosses him out exclaiming:  'Out you go. I will have nought to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath.'¹

Aesop's fables were very popular in the Low Countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth century and there were numerous editions of them in circulation.  This specific fable was apparently one of Jordaens' favorites, for he came back to it in paintings and drawings numerous times.  Jordaens' earliest treatment of the subject is a painting in the Glasgow Art Gallery, dated by d'Hulst  to circa 1615-16.²  It is a vertical composition and shows the peasant seated at a table outdoors as he blows on the porridge.  With him are two women and another peasant with his mouth wide open, looking as if he just burned his tongue.  Next comes the present work, an altogether grander composition, both in its size and in the treatment of the figures, and a second version of the composition in the Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, Kassel see fig. 1), which D'Hulst dates to 1620.³ Possibly just a few months later, Jordaens painted the same subject again.  There are two nearly identical versions, one in Brussels and the second in Göteborg, both vertical in format with the satyr standing up and facing the viewer. ⁴   In another painting of about the same period in Munich, which is set indoors like the present work, Jordaens packs the scene with additional figures and furnishings, even including a cow in the cast of participants, He also changes the satyr, making him much younger, with dark hair and a shorter beard.  Jordaens last extant painting of the satyr and the peasant dates from some twenty years later.  In the picture, now in Brussels, all the figures are shown frontally surrounding a gross peasant eating his porridge.  It seems cast more in the mold of the As the King Drinks, another favorite theme of Jordaens, than of this fable by Aesop.

The present work, like the Kassel painting, can be dated to early in Jordaens' most productive period.  The satyr is quite different than in the earlier Glasgow picture with a grizzled beard and hair, and heavy set.  This conception of him and particularly the treatment of his sagging flesh reveal the strong influence of Rubens.  The peasant family, by contrast, seems to reflect Jordaens' interest in Caravaggio.  Although Jordaens never traveled to Italy, he would have known Caravaggio's work from those pictures he could see in the North, such as The Madonna with the Rosary,  which was in Antwerp (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), and through the paintings of his northern followers.  Certainly the solid figure of the peasant with his rough features and bare feet, and his wife, with her work-reddened hands, ultimately derive from the Lombard master.   The composition, too, ultimately owes a debt to Caravaggio, particularly his influential Supper at Emmaus, now in the National Gallery, London, with its large gesturing figures crowded around a white-clothed table. Like the surprised apostles and the gesturing Christ, the satyr and the peasant's wife and mother reach out into our space, breaking the picture plane and creating a dramatic interaction with the viewer. The figures also react to one another:  the satyr spreads his arms asking why the peasant is blowing on his his porridge and the women reply emphatically.  Only the young boy to left of the satyr is disengaged, looking at the viewer rather than at what his happening around him.

As with so many of Jordaens' paintings, there are a number of versions of this composition, but the only ones accepted by D'Hulst are the present work and the picture in Kassel.⁵  Although many elements of the two pictures are the same, there are also significant differences. Here Jordaens sets this picture in the satyr's hut, while the figures in the Kassel painting are out of doors.  Instead of a view out through the arch at the left, we see the wall of the hut on which Jordaens paints a basket holding a cabbage(?) and two pottery jugs, whose shiny surfaces catch the light.  The young mother is quite differently dressed, as is the child at her knees, whose head is covered and who holds a stick (or wooden spoon) rather than a piece of fruit.  The composition here is more spacious, and extends further to the left, and there is more room between the old woman and the standing boy to the right.   

As Michael Jaffe first noted in an unpublished description of The Satyr and the Peasant Family, all the physical evidence points to its being the prime version of this composition, predating the painting in Kassel.⁶  Careful visual inspection of this picture and an examination using infrared reflectography reveal significant changes that Jordaens made to the painting as he worked.  Most important is the discovery that there was originally another figure in the painting, visible just to the left of the satyr, which Jordaens painted over.  He also extended the old woman's hand further to the right, to more closely echo the satyr's gesture, and reduced the width of satyr's upper arm so the boy's head would be more visible.  There are smaller changes as well, and they all show an artist who is revising as he works, not a man replicating an earlier composition. 

Jordaens was probably only twenty-seven when he painted the present work, but he was in full command of his powers.  He bathed the composition in a warm light and applied the paint in bold strokes, to create reflections on the various surfaces.  We see this clearly in his rendering of the basket on the wall to the left.  Perhaps most beautiful is his treatment of the satyr, with his fine hair with nubs of horns showing through and the delicate wreath of leaves.  Jordaens has made him a sympathetic figure; with his sensitive face and delicate gestures he appears far more civilized than the coarse peasant blowing on his porridge. 

 

1  Quotation from aesopfables.com, The Man and the Satyr2.
2  R.-A. d'Hulst, Jacob Jordaens, London 1982, p. 60.
3  Ibid., p. 97, dates the Kassel painting to circa 1620 but was unaware of the existence of this version.
4   D'Hulst, op. cit., p. 97, considers the two versions of equal quality and dates them to circa 1620-21.
5  D'Hulst , in conversation with Michael Simpson, April 1994, confirmed the attribution of this painting from a transparency.
6  M. Jaffe, undated description of the painting in the possession of the current owner.