Artwork Page for Village Fair

Details / Information for Village Fair

Village Fair

1685

Cornelis Dusart

(Dutch, 1660–1704)
Culture
Netherlands
Medium
etching
Measurements
Platemark: 26.6 x 34.6 cm (10 1/2 x 13 5/8 in.); Sheet: 27.8 x 35.8 cm (10 15/16 x 14 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1944.46
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Many rural people in the 1600s had at least one pig, dog, or both. The usefulness and flexible diets of these animals made them easy to live with.

Description

Though associated with morally questionable behavior, alcohol in the Netherlands was important to long-standing traditions and vital to the economy. This tension plays out in images of village festivals, church holidays, and family events held outdoors. Compared to the orderly fair portrayed by David Teniers, this one is drunken chaos. A fiddler plays while fights break out and stumbling couples take hands to dance. Dogs, chickens, children, and a herd of pigs fill the disorderly space before a makeshift stage with spontaneous acrobatics. Fueling the frenzy is a tavern, at left, out of which a man staggers with a full pitcher.
A horizontally oriented etching in black ink on beige paper depicts a lively village square crowded with people. On the left, figures dance near barrels by a timber-framed house with a leaning ladder. To the right, a large crowd gathers before performers on a raised wooden stage. Chickens and dogs roam the open ground in the foreground beneath a wide sky with wispy clouds.

Village Fair

1685

Cornelis Dusart

(Dutch, 1660–1704)
Netherlands

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