Liechtenstein Collections Logo
DE
existing user
forgot password?
REGISTER
Your benefits
  • Save artworks as favourites
  • Create, edit and print your favourites lists
  • Art
    • Collections
    • The Collections Online
    • Publications
    • News
  • Presentation
    • Presentation
    • Permanent Presentation
    • Special Exhibitions
    • Loans
  • History
    • History of the Family and the Collections
    • The Princely House
    • Garden Palace
    • City Palace
  • Art
    • Collections
    • The Collections Online
    • Publications
    • News
  • Presentation
    • Presentation
    • Permanent Presentation
    • Special Exhibitions
    • Loans
  • History
    • History of the Family and the Collections
    • The Princely House
    • Garden Palace
    • City Palace

Save search query

Please log in to mark objects as favourites.
The King Drinks   Jan Miense Molenaer (1610–1668)

The King Drinks

Jan Miense Molenaer (1610–1668)

late 1630s

this site may contain automatically translated text
Das Bohnenfest

Jan Miense Molenaer, who lived and worked in Haarlem, was a specialist in raucous scenes of merriment like the present oval panel. The boldness of his brushwork suggests the influence of the great Frans Hals, while his subject matter is more reminiscent of Hals’s supposed pupils Adriaen van Ostade and Adriaen Brouwer. In 1636, which must be the approximate date of this panel, Molenaer married the painter Judith Leyster, who was from Utrecht but likewise formatively influenced by Hals.
The subject of this picture is a traditional form of celebration known as ‘Le roi boit’ (the king drinks), which took place on the feast of the Three Kings, also known as Twelfth Night or more properly Epiphany (6 January). Not infrequently represented in art, it involved the man who found a single bean in a cake becoming king of the festivities and donning a paper crown, here seen discarded on a chair-back. Whenever he drank, all the other members of the group had to cry out ‘Le roi boit’ or pay a forfeit. Molenaer sets the scene in a tavern (there is a man just visible at the serving hatch beyond), and shows everyone – with the exception of the maid and the dog – in a state of open-mouthed drunken euphoria. The chalk marks on the table indicate that they are on their fourth round of drinks, with the fiddle and a number of clay pipes only adding to the fun. The grotesque expressions of this merry company are brilliantly captured, and the overall mood – at least so far – is of revelry rather than degradation.

Material/technique
oil on panel
Measurements
42 × 56 cm
Acquisition
historical family property
Artists/makers/authors
Jan Miense Molenaer
Detailed information
Inventory number
GE 447
Signature/inscriptions content only available in German
am Sessel der alten Frau bez.: J miensen molenaer (mit einer heute nicht mehr lesbaren Datierung)
Provenance
first mentioned in 1780 in the gallery catalogue "Description des Tableaux, et des Piéces de Sculpture, ..." by Johann Dallinger von Dalling the Elder
Iconography
Feast (inside)
Literature
Kurt Bauch, Der frühe Rembrandt und seine Zeit. Studien zur geschichtlichen Bedeutung seines Frühstils, Berlin 1960, S. 36, Abb. 23

Johann Dallinger von Dalling, Description des Tableaux, et des Piéces de Sculpture, que renferme la Gallerie de son Altesse François Joseph Chef et Prince Regnant de la Maison de Liechtenstein, Vienne 1780, S. 195-196, als Nolenalck, Kat. 613 * (mit Stern = Neuaufstellung)

Johann Dallinger von Dalling d. Ä., Catalogus, Manuskript verfasst 1805–1807, S. Manuskript, als von Feldsberg, Kat. 154

Jacob von Falke, Katalog der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Wien 1873 , S. 79, Kat. 683

Wilhelm Bode, Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei 1883, S. 203 (um 1640)

Jacob von Falke, Katalog der fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bilder-Galerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien, Wien 1885, S. 61, Kat. 447

Wilhelm Bode, Die Kleinmeister der holländischen Schule in der Galerie des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, in: Die graphischen Künste 17 1894, S. 84-85

Wilhelm Bode, Die Fürstlich Liechtenstein'sche Galerie in Wien, Wien 1896, S. 86-87 (um 1640)

Alfred von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Künstler-Lexikon, Bd. II, Bd. 2, 3 Bde., Wien-Leipzig 1910, S. 177

Adolf Kronfeld, Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien, 3. Aufl., Wien 1931, S. 95, Kat. 447

M. Währen, Der Königskuchen und sein Fest, Bern 1958, S. 45-46

B. Schnackenburg, Die Anfänge des Bauerninterieurs bei Adriaen van Ostade, in: Oud Holland 85 1970, S. 168, Anm. 25

Reinhold Baumstark, Meisterwerke der Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein. Gemälde, Zürich–München 1980, S. 217, Kat.-Nr. 85, Tafel 85

P. Sutton, Ausst.-Kat. Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, Philadelphia 1984, S. 265, Anm. 3

Walter Liedtke, Ausst.-Kat. Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, New York 1985, S. 266-267, Kat. 169

Walter Liedtke, Dutch Paintings in the Collection of the Princes of Liechtenstein, in: Tableau 8 1985, S. 57

P. Hecht, Basel Kunstmuseum. Im Lichte Hollands. Exhibition Reviews, in: The Burlington Magazine 1015 1987, S. 692

Ausst.-Kat. Im Lichte Hollands. Holländische Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein und aus Schweizer Besitz, Petra ten-Doesschate Chu (Hg.), Kunstmuseum, Basel 14.6.1987–27.9.1987, erschienen Zürich 1987, S. 168, Kat. 58

R. Klessmann, Rez. der Ausst. "Im Lichte Hollands", in: Kunstchronik 1987, S. 606

Ausst.-Kat. Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Uwe Wieczorek, Paul Reiles, Jean Luc Koltz (Hg.), Museée national d'histoire et d'art Luxembourg, Luxemburg 8.7.1995–3.9.1995, erschienen Luxemburg 1995, S. 105–106, Kat.-Nr. 79

Ausst.-Kat. Collections du Prince de Liechtenstein, Uwe Wieczorek, Paul Reiles, Jean Luc Koltz (Hg.), Musée national d’histoire et d’art de Luxembourg, Luxemburg 8.7.1995–3.9.1995, erschienen Luxemburg 1995, S. 70, Nr. 79, Abb. S. 98, Textband S. 105-106, Kat. 79

M. Grewenig, Ausst.-Kat. Mysterium Wein. Die Götter, der Wein und die Kunst, Speyer 1996, S. 242-243

Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Le Collezioni, München 2004, S. 421, Abb. S. 394, Kat. X.21

Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Vienna. The Collections, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 421, Abb. S. 394, Kat. X.21

Wayne Franits, Dutch Seventeenth-Century Genre Painting. Its Stylistic and Thematic Evolution, New Haven - London 2004, S. 46-47, Abb. 36

Johann Kräftner, Andrea Stockhammer, Liechtenstein Museum Wien. Die Sammlungen, Johann Kräftner (Hg.), München–Berlin–London–New York 2004, S. 421, Abb. S. 394, Kat. X.21

Ausst.-Kat. Sünde. Süsse Laster - Lässliche Moral in der bildenden Kunst, Thomas Habersatter, erschienen Salzburg 2008, S. 274-275, Kat. 47

Ausst.-Kat. Crown of the Alps. Masterworks from the Collections of the Prince of Liechtenstein, National Palace Museum, Taipei 17.4.2015–31.8.2015, erschienen Taipei City 2015, S. 260–261, Kat.-Nr. 95

Ausst.-Kat. Mahlzeit. The Meal, Johanna Schwanberg (Hg.), Dom Museum, Wien 29.9.2022–27.8.2023, erschienen Wien 2022, S. 284

Discover more objects by

Jan Miense Molenaer

show as search result
Eine Bauerngesellschaft

Peasants Merrymaking in an Interior

Eine Bauerngesellschaft

Peasants Merrymaking in an Interior

Bauernunterhaltung in einer Stube

Peasants Merrymaking in an Interior

c. 1655

Bauernunterhaltung in einer Stube

Peasants Merrymaking in an Interior

c. 1655

Bauernunterhaltung in einer Stube

Peasants Merrymaking in an Interior

Bauernunterhaltung in einer Stube

Peasants Merrymaking in an Interior

notification text

Download low-res image

Order high-res image

Download PDF

DOWNLOAD LOW-RES IMAGE

In accordance with our Open Content Policy, we provide free downloads of photos of artworks in the Princely Collections that are protected either by copyright and/or ancillary protection law in limited sizes for non-commercial use. Our Conditions of Use for Photographs apply.

We would appreciate a specimen copy or a link to your use context, sent to [email protected].

DOWNLOAD
ORDER HIGH-RES IMAGE

Publishable, high-resolution digital image files are available of this piece for commercial use. The required rights can be obtained from Scala Archives Firenze. The terms and conditions of the Scala Group Spa apply. Use the link below to access the Acala Archives website.

TO SCALA ARCHIVES
Download PDF

Here you can download a PDF with information on the object.

Download PDF

new list

notification text

LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna

Fürstliche Sammlungen Art Service GmbH
Fürstengasse 1
1090 Vienna, Austria

phone: +43 1 319 13 91–0
fax: +43 1 319 13 91–820
[email protected]

Visit us at

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Sponsor of the Princely Collections

Logo LGT
  • Contact
  • Newsletter
  • Press
  • TEAM
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Imprint