A Seated Peasant Holding Jug and Pipe

Dusart was one of the finest Dutch draughtmen of the last decades of the 17th century, whose style is best seen in his single figure studies in chalks of two or three colours, such as the present drawing. The studies mostly depict roughly dressed peasants, focussing closely on their gestures and clothing, drawn in a refined and technically skilful manner. Dusart painted, etched and drew mainly peasant scenes. In this he was strongly influenced by his master and teacher, Adriaen van Ostade (1610 - 1684), whose studio contents he inherited in 1685. Dusart even added Ostade's monogram 'AO' to some of his own drawings, as is the case with both this drawing and another in the Walker's Weld-Blundell collection. Earlier in the 17th century Netherlands, smoking and drinking were associated wtih idleness and sexual overindulgence, but it has been argued that Dusart's drawings are more sympathetic to the figures he was depicting. The man in this drawing appears to be holding a Bartmann jug, usually and in Germany and named for the decorative bearded man on the neck. The pipe is like those produced in the Dutch town of Gouda.