Peasant Rejoicing - Mattheus Van Helmont (1623 - 1679)

Oil on copper. Signed lower right: MV Hellemont F

Our composition, unprecedented on the art market, had been kept by the same family for over a century. Van Helmont's favorite subject, these festivities (probably weddings) bring together a cheerful crowd in a barn of disproportionate proportions (this is often the case in his paintings). In a cleverly arranged mess, smokers, drinkers, dancers, playing children, laughing characters, pets, all contribute to the animation of the scene. Van Helmont's special character is probably not unrelated to his taste for tavern scenes; he is said to be a follower of these places and quarrelsome.

Related works: “Peasants in a tavern”, oil on copper, Sotheby's lot 43 on 05.10.2011 - “Interior scene with happy characters”, oil on canvas Sotheby's lot 188 on 02.02.2018

This delicious painting is presented in an elegant blackened wooden casseta posterior frame.
Dimensions: 24.5 x 33.5 cm - 40 x 49 cm with the frame

Mattheus van Helmont or van Hellemont (Antwerp 1623 - Brussels after 1679) is famous for his genre scenes and his representations of peasant life. He spent most of his career in his hometown then moved to Brussels in 1674. At first influenced by the work of Adriaen Brouwer, David Ryckaert III and David Teniers II, he developed his own style with maturity. Master at the Guild of Saint-Luc in Antwerp from 1645, van Hellmont was a prolific painter: he owed many scenes of taverns, villages and peasant festivals, but also alchemists and craftsmen at work. His works are generally signed or monogrammed. His sons, Jan van Helmont (born 1650) and Gaspard van Helmont (born 1656) follow their father's path and are both painters.