DAVID TENIERS "The Young Man" (Antwerp, ca. 1610 - Brussels, 1690)."Kermesse".Oil on canvas.

DAVID TENIERS "The Young Man" (Antwerp, ca. 1610 - Brussels, 1690).
"Kermesse".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Attached report issued by the art dealer Jacques Helft (France, 1891 -1980).
With repainting and restorations.
Signed in the lower right area (barrel).
Measurements: 16 x 21 cm.
The canvas shows a rural scene in which some peasants celebrate a meal and different games in front of several houses. Thus recreating a stylistic pattern typical of the genre scenes by David Teniers (Antwerp, 1610 - Brussels, 1690). The scene features some of the pictorial devices popularised by the young David Teniers, who succeeded in revitalising the genre. In depicting these popular festivals, Teniers departed from the aesthetic and compositional schemes of Jan Brueghel "the Elder", repeating the same idyllic vision of the peasant world that was also widely used in Flemish literature of the time. He depicted the Kermes or Kermesse, the name given to neighbourhood festivals with food and drink stalls, where games of skill, children's games, raffles and artistic performances were held.
The son of David Teniers I, in his youth he remained faithful to his father's style. However, he soon specialised in genre painting, which was closely linked to the Flemish tradition. In 1638 he joined the Guild of Saint Luke, of which he later became dean. Among his patrons were the Bishop of Ghent and Archduke Leopold William. Teniers was also the artistic director of the archduke's collection, a position that included not only the conservation of paintings but also the responsibility for choosing and acquiring new works for what was one of the most important collections of 17th-century painting. This gave the painter the opportunity to become acquainted with and study at first hand works by both contemporary and earlier masters of various schools and genres. In 1651 he moved to Brussels on the occasion of his appointment as court painter, a post he retained with the arrival of the new archduke, John Joseph of Austria. He was free to work for other patrons, including the greatest art connoisseurs of the 17th century: Christina of Sweden, William II of Orange and Philip IV. Supported by the latter, in 1669 he succeeded in realising his project to create the Antwerp Academy. His influence extended into the 18th century, and his works formed part of the collections of the first Spanish Bourbons. His compositions were copied in tapestries that adorned the royal palace in Madrid, giving rise to a very popular genre known as "a la Teniers". Works by Teniers can be found in the most important museums in the world, including the Prado, the Hermitage, the Louvre, the Metropolitan in New York, the National Galleries in London, Washington and Prague, the Rijksmuseum, the Royal Collection in London, the Ashmolean in Oxford, the Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, the Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, and the Fine Arts Museums in Brussels, Vienna, Antwerp and Dresden.