Flemish School, Kitchen Interior With Figures

The painting echoes Teniers's 1672 composition, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. It depicts the interior of a kitchen, somewhat cluttered but with opulent still lifes of game, vegetables, and household objects, with a young maid cleaning branches and an old man sexually urging her.

A curious woman observes the scene, unseen, from a window.

The theme of the old man urging the young girl is recurrent in Teniers's works, as is that of the woman secretly observing. In Antwerp, the artist's genre scenes were highly sought after and commanded high prices.

Consequently, Teniers the Younger devoted himself to them and became one of the most successful painters of the time, enjoying international popularity during his lifetime and throughout the 18th century, especially in France. His work was imitated by many followers, including his son, David Teniers III. (See and Margret Klinge, David Teniers de Jonge: Schilderijen, Tekeningen, Antwerp 1991)

Condition: In good overall condition, as shown in the images.
Provenance: From an Italian private collection. The first references to the provenance of the paintings in question are from a museum in Lima, Peru.
Documentation: Purchase invoice (1998), Milanese auction house.
Restoration: Cleaning performed in 2006.