Hendrick Pot - A Merry Company at Table [1630]

Hendrick Pot - A Merry Company at Table [1630], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

The brothel scene or 'bordeeltje' was a popular theme in Dutch genre painting. Here, an elderly woman supervises the proceedings and wine and oysters are offered - both of which are known for their aphrodisiac qualities. Her age and ugliness is contrasted with the youth and beauty of the young women. This comparison has the moralising overtones of a vanitas and underlines the transience of earthly beauty and possessions and the inevitability of age, decay and death.

Hendrick Pot was probably born in Haarlem. He is thought to have been a pupil of Karel van Mander. He worked in Haarlem where he was Dean of the guild in 1626, 1630 and 1635. In 1632 he was in London and after 1648 in Amsterdam, where he died. He was a chiefly a portrait and genre painter.

[National Gallery, London - Oil on oak, 32.3 x 49.6 cm]