Joos van Craesbeek

Joos van Craesbeeck painted the rowdy side of seventeenth century Flemish life: taverns, drinkers, smokers, card players and brawls. His figures are earthy and expressive, and his pictures often have a rough humour, painted with warm browns and quick, lively brushwork.

He was born around 1605 in Neerlinter in Brabant and trained as a baker as well as a painter. In Antwerp he joined the painters’ guild in the early 1630s and came under the influence of Adriaen Brouwer, the master of low-life tavern scenes. His early pictures follow Brouwer closely. After Brouwer’s death he developed his own manner and moved to Brussels, where he joined the guild in 1651.

Peasants in Front of a Village Inn and The Lute Concert show both sides of his work, the rustic and the more refined. The Louvre has his well known Smoker. Look at the faces, which are close to caricature.