TENIERS, David the Younger
(b. 1610, Antwerpen, d. 1690, Bruxelles)

Elegant Company before a Pavilion in an Ornamental Garden

1651
Oil on copper, 70 x 88 cm
Private collection

Painted on an unusually large copper plate, this painting depicts a large group of elegantly dressed figures informally gathered in a formal garden, serenaded by a guitar-player, and served chilled wine and food. Only two of the figures have been positively identified, they are the forty-one year old artist himself, wearing a red cloak, accompanied by his wife Anna, to be seen in the background between the fountain and the pavilion, he with a red cloak and a hat, she in a yellow dress, seen in "profil perdu". The backdrop is a garden pavilion closely based on the loggia in the garden of Rubens's house in Antwerp (now the Rubenshuis).

The painting is signed and dated lower left: DAVID · TENIERS · FEC · / 1651.