RYCKAERT, David the Younger
(b. 1612, Antwerpen, d. 1661, Antwerpen)

Man Sleeping

c. 1649
Oil on panel, 52 x 38 cm
Amstelkring Museum, Amsterdam

Seventeenth century artists often painted people lsleeping, but usually it is obvious what the subject was doing before falling into the arms of Morpheus - a woman sleeping at a spinning wheel, a student sleeping at his books, for example. In these cases the theme is sloth, one of the seven sins, and the viewer was expected to observe the message and follow it. In this intimate painting by David Ryckaert, there is no association with work or study at all. Nevertheless, it seems that this sin is also the theme here.