David Teniers Circle

Flemish school of the seventeenth century. Circle of DAVID TENIERS "The Young Man" (Antwerp, ca. 1610 - Brussels, 1690).
"Pipe smoker."
Oil on canvas.
In its original canvas.
Presents faults.
Measurements: 36 x 29 x 1,5 cm.

This canvas shows a tavern scene with similar morphological characteristics to "The Merry Soldier", a canvas by David Teniers the Younger housed in the Prado Museum. Teniers' production of tavern works is based on that of his master Adriaen Brouwer.
Son of David Teniers I, in his youth he remained faithful to his father's style. However, he soon specialized in genre painting, closely linked to the Flemish tradition. In 1638 he joined the Guild of Saint Luke, of which he would later become dean. Among his patrons were the Bishop of Ghent and the Archduke Leopold William. Teniers was also artistic director of the archduke's collection, a position that included not only the conservation of paintings, but also the responsibility of choosing and acquiring new works for what was one of the most important painting collections of the 17th century. Thanks to this, the painter had the opportunity to get to know and study first-hand works by both contemporary and earlier masters, from different schools and genres. In 1651 he moved to Brussels on the occasion of his appointment as court painter, a position he retained with the arrival of the new archduke, John Joseph of Austria. He enjoyed the freedom to work for other patrons, among whom were the greatest art connoisseurs of the 17th century: Christina of Sweden, William II of Orange and Philip IV. Supported by the latter, in 1669 he succeeded in realizing his project to create the Antwerp Academy. His influence reached the 18th century, and his works were part of the collections of the first Bourbons of Spain. His compositions were copied in tapestries that adorned the royal palace of Madrid, giving rise to a genre of great popularity, called "a la Teniers". Works by Teniers are kept in the most important museums of the world, such as the Prado, the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Metropolitan of New York, the National Galleries of London, Washington and Prague, the Rijksmuseum, the Royal Collection of London, the Ashmolean of Oxford, the Poldi Pezzoli of Milan, the Western Art Museum of Tokyo, the Thyssen-Bornemisza, or the Fine Arts Museums of Brussels, Vienna, Antwerp and Dresden.