Tavern Scene
1658 National Gallery of Art
About this artwork
This interior scene displays a group of peasants gathered in a dimly lit tavern, engaging in card games, smoking, and drinking. It is a quintessential example of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish genre painting focusing on everyday life.
Did you know?
David Teniers the Younger was incredibly prolific and highly successful during his lifetime, serving as court painter to the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. His tavern scenes were immensely popular among European nobility, who found these 'low-life' depictions both amusing and exotic compared to their own refined surroundings. Interestingly, the owl pinned to the wall was a common symbol in Dutch art of the time, often representing folly or the lack of wisdom.
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Tavern Scene
David Teniers the Younger, 1658
