David Teniers II (Antwerp 1610 – 1690 Brussels)

Interior of a Kitchen with a Maid Peeling Onions

Oil on panel, 50 x 60.5 cm (19.7 x 23.8 inch); presented in a modern ebonised frame of 17th-century model

Signed ‘D. Teniers’ (lower right)

Provenance
Private collection, The Netherlands

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David Teniers was the most famous 17th-century painter of peasant life.¹ He enjoyed international popularity in his own lifetime and during the 18th century, especially in France. Teniers’s success was marked by the acquisition of a country house in 1662 and by the grant in 1680 of a patent of nobility. His work was imitated by many followers, including his son, David Teniers III.

Teniers was born in Antwerp and probably trained by his father, David Teniers the Elder. The work of Adriaen Brouwer was an important influence. Teniers produced a more refined version of Brouwer's peasant scenes, and later created scenes of fashionable life. His work was also influenced by his father-in-law, Jan Brueghel.

The present painting was recently discovered and is an interesting addition to the known oeuvre of Teniers. The composition is only known from this painting, though Teniers painted several other interiors of kitchens, frequently with comparable figures of peeling women and with opulent still-lifes of game and vegetables. A notable example of such works is the Kitchen Interior in the Mauritshuis in The Hague (fig.).²

The authorship of this painting was confirmed by Dr Margret Klinge on 15th September 2020 upon examination of the original.

SOLD

1. For Teniers, see Hans Vlieghe, David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690): a biography, Turnhout 2011 and Margret Klinge, David Teniers de Jonge: schilderijen, tekeningen, Antwerp 1991.
2. Oil on copper, 57 x 77 cm, signed and dated 1644, inv. no. 260; P. Davidson, David Teniers the Younger, London 1980 , pp. 14-15, fig. 7.