HEMESSEN, Jan Sanders van
(b. ca. 1500, Hemishem, d. 1556, Haarlem)

Merry Company

c. 1540
Oil on oak panel, 29 x 45 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Brothel or tavern scenes were often given a moralizing bent by including some notably innocent male participant to be seen as a 'prodigal son'. Such a figure is found between the two women to the left of the door in this panel attributed to the Antwerp artist Jan Sanders van Hemessen.




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