Cornelis Bega

Peasant lighting his Pipe [Le Paysan allumant sa Pipe] Zittende Man steekt Pijp aan Bartsch 20, Hollstein 20 II/IV, Dutuit 20 etching, ca. 1642, a very fine impression of the 2nd state (of 4)*, printed with considerable selective plate wiping that reinforces the shading (and before wear to the dark areas that is apparent in later impressions), with narrow to thread margins, (slight thinning in the upper left corner), on cream medium-fine laid paper, with no apparent watermark, very faint soiling, slight traces of an old mount on the reverse, otherwise in excellent condition P. 112 x 88 mm; S. 116 x 91 mm. Provenance: the JJS collection (with the wetstamp verso, not in Lugt)

Peasant stuffing his Pipeis an insight into the (then) novel Dutch habit of tobacco consumption and a more general view of the 17th-century Dutch tavern culture that Bega so astutely observed.  These graphic anecdotes show an almost ethnographic interest in everyday peasant life.

The printings (or editions) of this remarkable etching are not known.  We have however located two impressions of this print in the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam). **