A Peasant eating Mussels

A languid tranquillity pervades this small rural scene where, surrounded by ramshackle cottages, a neighbourly gossip is taking place. One villager is perched on his doorstep, prising open mussels from an earthenware bowl, the ground littered with the discarded shells. The characterful face is topped with a peasant’s hat in a deep red that punctuates the muted colour palette. Barely discernible behind him, emerging from the doorway is an intriguing figure, perhaps listening into the conversation. In the background, a shepherd appears to peacefully contemplate his small herd on the open land, the sheep suggested with whispers of translucent brushstrokes. The calm blue sky, with high, fleeting clouds which meet the drifting smoke from a chimney, throws the earthy tones of the cottages into the foreground plane.  

Forming a pair with another folk scene in the collection at Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gypsies in a Landscape (DPG31), this bucolic image is typical of the work of Flemish artist, David Teniers the Younger (1610–90). He established himself as a genre painter of peasant life, first working in Antwerp then moving to Brussels where he lived in comparative luxury. Creating scenes, characters and landscapes that were purely imaginary, he infused his works with a bawdy charm and an element of story-telling which appealed to the genteel middle classes. His father, David Teniers the Elder (1582–1649) was also an established genre painter and the artistic integrity of the family was further enhanced when Teniers married Anna Brueghel (1619–56), the daughter of artist Jan Brueghel (1568–1625), in 1637.