Leonaert Bramer

This lively and animated scene of peasants drinking and dancing is annotated with a well-known Dutch proverb, literally 'Krepel always wants to be the first to dance,' but meaning much the same as the English proverb, 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread.' This is a fine illustration of the importance of such proverbs in 17th-century Dutch art, where everyday genre scenes are so often loaded with symbolism, and moralising messages. 

The inscription 'Henry Zorg', upper left, is probably an old attribution to the artist Hendrick Sorgh (c. 1610-1670). At the time of the sale in 1998 (see Provenance), Pieter Koops suggested that the drawing may date to the 1630-40s.

For other drawings by Bramer, see lots 47, 48, 50, 51 and 52.