Ball Scene In Elegant Company. Pieter Lisaert (1595-1629)

Oil on oak panel. Presented in a 17th century frame in molded fruitwood and gilded leafy frieze. Overall dimensions: 50 x 70 cm. The panel alone: 40 x 51 cm In a sober but elegant interior, a young couple opens the ball. Guests are gathered around with musicians. Witness to an art of living in the Renaissance, the painter places particular emphasis on the refinement of clothing with shimmering fabrics, and on a young and handsome lute player wearing a short beard and earring "made fashionable in France by Henry III". This painting was made by the Antwerp painter Pieter Lisaert (1595-1629), who despite a short life, left us a large number of works, executed with extreme meticulousness, his style is smooth, using fine glazes in shimmering colors, most of them on copper or on wood panel. Unfortunately, current documentation does not allow us to establish in which workshop he was trained, he seems to have had brothers, also painters. In any case, he followed an artistic movement very fashionable in Flanders at the very beginning of the 17th century and joined the Francken dynasty through his style. Our painting is a fine example! Excellent state of conservation. Sold with a certificate. Reference bibliography: FC Legrand, Les Peintres flamands de kind au XVIle Siècle, 1963, p. 76 J. De Maere, M. Wabbes, Dictionnaire illustré des peintres flamands du XVIle siècle, 1994, ad vocem