Genre Scene After Karel Dujardin (1626-1678)

Rare genre scene representing a troupe of the commedia dell'arte on a makeshift stage outside, in a beautiful Italianate landscape with ruins in the background and mountains in the distance. This is a version from the first half of the 19th century of the painting "The Italian charlatans" which Karel Dujardin painted in 1657 and which is in the Louvre. In our version, painted with extreme finesse, there are some differences from the original: The wolf-dog under the stage boards is missing. However, there is one more animal. Dujardin painted a monkey perched on the stage curtain rod, on ours a cute little monkey, attached to a chain, stands in the foreground behind the figure in black and looks at us. An element that would almost be missing in the original . Our painting is in perfect condition. It is painted on a wooden panel and framed in a beautiful gilded wooden frame from the Restoration period. To report a small lack in stucco at the level of a stylized flower. Karel Duijardin, born in Amsterdam in 1626 and died in Venice in 1678, is a Dutch painter and engraver of the golden age, known for his Italianate landscapes. He is one of the "bamboccianti", genre painters who often crudely represent the daily life of the most modest people. They were active in Rome from about 1625 until the end of the 17th century