The Satyr and the Peasant Family

J. Soloman
by descent to Mrs. Soloman
Christie’s, London, 14 July 1930, lot 115
acquired by Rosenbaum family of art dealers Matthiesen Gallery and Michael Simpson Ltd, 1992 private collection
Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 2008, lot no. 59
private collection, London

Jacob Jordaens at first acquaintance appears to be the quintessentially Flemish painter of his century, alive to native tradition in colour, design and choice of subject, the illustrator of Flemish life and of Flemish proverbs.

The subject of this painting was among the favourite profane themes of the artist’s early career. On several occasions he adapted Aesop, Fables, LXXIV, to his purposes: the absurdity of the peasant who, having breathed on his hands to warm them, then blows on his porridge to cool it, excites the visiting satyr’s shocked protest. The moral is that one should beware of people who ‘blow hot and cold’.

To view the essay by the late Prof. Michael Jaffé, Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 1973 – 1990 please click here.