Artist: Cornelis Pietersz. Bega
Date: 1663
Size: 35 x 29 cm
Technique: Oil On Canvas
A light-skinned man sitting near an oven is surrounded by papers and vessels, all within a shadowy room in this vertical painting. The scene is dominated by chocolate and clay brown, black, slate blue, and shades of gray. The man sits facing our right in profile near the center of the painting. He wears a tall black cap that shadows his eyes and a rust-brown sleeveless garment like a vest over dark, steel-gray, long sleeves. Cream-white fabric tied around his waist could be an apron, and more white fabric drapes over his knees. Brown hair is visible behind his ear, he has a mustache, and his lips are parted as he looks down toward the instruments in front of him. He is hunched over, the elbow closer to us on what might be a flattened bellows, and he holds tongs in his left hand. The vessel in front of him could be made from pewter or glass, and it has a high, curved top and a long spout angled downward. Other pots and a red cloth are jumbled with large, leather-covered folios like thick folders of papers on the floor close to us. More papers, pots, and containers sit on a wide ledge over the open fireplace or oven to our right. A piece of parchment-white cloth hangs down the front of the oven next to a leather knapsack that hangs from the mantle. The top zone of the painting is deep in shadow but there seems to be an arched window or door covered with a wooden shutter to our right, behind the oven. A piece of paper affixed to the wall near the opening shows a vessel like the long-spouted vessel in front of the man. A shallow wooden box near the lower right corner seems to be filled with crumpled paper or cloth. The artist signed and dated the front face of the box with light letters: “C. Bega Ao. 1663.”
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