17th-century tavern interior

This painting is described as a 17th-century tavern interior, painted by an anonymous Flemish artist who likely worked in the circle of the Brussels workshop of David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690). Indeed, Teniers is the most renowned genre painter of his time, particularly noted for developing peasant scenes, especially tavern scenes, creating true compositional formulas that other painters later adopted.

In these tavern scenes, one often sees men drinking, playing, and smoking, reflecting the highly social role of tobacco during that era. Tobacco was already a subject of controversy, raising issues that feel remarkably contemporary today.

“Nicot’s herb”, named after the ambassador who introduced tobacco to Europe, was known in the Netherlands as a medicinal plant by the late 16th century. Snuffing and smoking its leaves became common practices, spreading through all social classes of the Dutch population by 1625. In taverns, smokers were closely associated with drinkers, and the expression “to drink a pipe of smoke” emerged.

Snuff tobacco became widespread and was even accessible to the poorest social classes. Initially sold by apothecaries, it quickly gave rise to a specialized trade. Innkeepers often stocked it for their patrons.

Tobacco was smoked using long clay pipes with narrow bowls. Less commonly, silver pipes were used, producing a harsher smoke — as shown in our painting. In the Northern Netherlands alone, there were around ten pipe manufacturers, the most famous being those of Gouda.

Tobacco’s popularity became so great that restrictions on smoking places were introduced — churches were among the few smoke-free spaces. Princes and cities imposed heavy taxes on tobacco trade and launched public awareness campaigns to warn the population. Only upper-class and aristocratic women avoided the practice, considering it unclean. Some marriage contracts even included clauses whereby noble brides forbade their husbands to smoke indoors.

As a result, tobacco gradually became associated with dissolute lifestyles, linked to the kinds of men who frequented taverns — then often called “tabagies” — where smoking, drinking, and gambling took place. Tobacco thus evolved into a symbol of rebellion and debauchery.
(Source: Jeanne d'Aboville Museum)