English: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 17:

Technical notes: The support consists of a single piece of finely and evenly woven plain weave fabric. The tacking edges are present on all four sides. The painting is attached to hardboard [marouflage] and fragments of selvedge have been preserved at the lower tacking edges. Cusping is present on all four sides. The ground is reddish and evenly and thinly applied. The paint has been applied in even, opaque layers. The reddish ground is partly visible, mainly in the foreground around the figures and also to some extent in the mule’s tail. The brushstrokes are rapid and coarse but distinct. The painting is in good condition. The impasto sections in the surface layer have been flattened somewhat because of the lining. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1939, 1970 and 1989.

Provenance: Acquired in 1870 (purchase).

Bibliography: Sander II, p. 78 (as unknown Flemish or Dutch artist); Göthe 1883, p. 30; (as Pieter van Bloemen); Göthe 1887, p. 19; Göthe 1893, p. 25; NM Cat. 1958, p. 18; NM Cat. 1990, p. 33.

Even though this composition displays great resemblances to Pieter van Bloemen’s paintings the similarities are not convincing. The composition is disorderly and considerably more animated than Van Bloemen’s heavy but well articulated arrangements. The master can probably be identified, however, as one of the group of Netherlandish artists in Rome during the last decades of the 17th century.

GCB [End]