UK
Collection

Fight in Front of the House

Pieter Jansz Quast

  • Fight in Front of the House 2
  • Fight in Front of the House 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-170
Author
Pieter Jansz Quast
Name
Fight in Front of the House
Date of creation
1st half of the 17th c.
Country
Holland
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
58.8 x 70
Additionally
Type
painting
Genre
genre art
Plot
Fight
Provenance
the Dzieduszycki collection
Exposition
Potocki Palace
Information about author
Author
Pieter Jansz Quast
Artist's lifetime
1605/1606–1647
Biography
Pieter Jansz Quast, a Dutch Golden Age painter and graphic artist, is best known for his satirical genre scenes from the life of peasants. At the same time, the artist worked in various genres and created domestic and humorous theatre scenes, allegories of the five senses, biblical scenes, portraits and landscapes. Most of them were recreated in numerous drawings that he made for sale. Pieter Jansz Quast was born in Amsterdam in 1605 or 1606. Later, in 1634, he moved with his family to The Hague, where he was a Guild of St. Luke member from 1634 to 1641. The artist afterwards returned to Amsterdam.
Object description
Peter Jansz Quast created dozens of genre grotesque scenes in which he mocked human flaws. His works are reminiscent of Adriaen Brouwer's painting style. The Lviv work, formally attributed to Peter Jansz Quast's authorship, depicts a fierce fight between peasants in front of an inn. A crowd of men is beating each other in the centre. One of them grabbed the older man's hair and swung a knife at him while stepping over the unconscious body of the other man. Two peasants with raised sticks are standing behind them. A woman is trying to separate one of them by seizing a red jacket. On the right, a man grabbed his opponent's throat, and the other attempted to hit him back with a jug. Two women restrain a peasant with a knife in the shadows under the inn's wall. The rest of the people contemplate the combat indifferently while entertaining and resting. Only the woman in the foreground directs her companion's attention to the fight. The background is a landscape with a view of the town and the high spire of the church. The painting is made in soft tonal pastel, typical of the artist, with predominant warm brown shades.

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