DUCK, Jacob
(b. ca. 1600, Utrecht, d. 1667, Utrecht)

Guardroom Interior

c. 1635
Oil on panel, 43 x 34 cm
Private collection

The genre of guardroom interiors (cortegaerdje) originated in the 1620's in Amsterdam, where it enjoyed enormous popularity, its main exponents being Willem Cornelisz. Duyster and Pieter Codde. The latter's studio produced a number of very accomplished practitioners in the genre, Jacob Duck amongst them. In this genre soldiers are depicted in the company of elegantly dressed ladies, often eating and drinking together in a highly social, merry setting.