The inn keeper.

Drawing, red chalk, 26,5 x 10,3 cm, laid paper, unsigned (paper trimmed, tipped at upper corners to modern blue backing sheet).

Jan Jozef I Horemans (1682-1759) was an Antwerp artist known for his genre scenes but he also painted portraits and historical allegories. He produced large number of small anecdotal pictures that were executed in the tradition of 17th-century Flemish genre painters such as Adriaen Brouwers and David Teniers. He used various tricks of composition to present a vivid account of episodes in private houses, inns and courtyards. The figure in this drawing fits well within the artist's oeuvre and is a reccurent figure type in the works of Horemans. Also technically, the sheet is akin to the known corpus of drawings on red chalk by the Antwerp artist. Old attribution on verso "Horemans del.".
Joined: Anonymous - Young boy with feathered cap. Flemish, ca. 1750. Drawing, red chalk, 20,8 x 17,2 cm, laid paper with partial watermark, unsigned. With old coll. number "55" in pen and black ink at bottom. (2 pcs)