The house of easy virtue - Flemish school, 17th century

Flemish school
17th century
The house of easy virtue
Oil on copper
Dimensions: 29 x 39 cm, 36 x 47 cm (framed)

THE ARTIST (ENGLISH)

This lively and finely detailed composition belongs to the Flemish tradition of 17th-century moralising genre painting, a field dominated by artists such as David Teniers the Younger, Cornelis Bega, Adriaen Brouwer, and Jan Steen. These painters drew inspiration from earlier Brueghelian satire, while adapting subjects to the changing social and cultural climate of the Baroque period.

Scenes set in taverns, brothels, guardrooms, and other informal interiors were particularly popular in Antwerp and the Northern Netherlands. They served as cautionary images exposing human folly—drunkenness, lust, and the dangers of idleness—while simultaneously offering collectors a witty, entertaining tableau filled with anecdotal detail.

Paintings of this type were often executed on copper, a support prized for its smooth surface and capacity for brilliant colour and fine precision. The technique allowed painters to enrich the surface with minute gestures, glimmers of jewellery, richly textured fabrics, and expressive facial types, all of which animate the present work. Although the artist remains anonymous, the manner is firmly rooted in the circle of Flemish genre specialists who blended humour, social commentary, and moralising intent.

THE ARTWORK (ENGLISH)

The House of Easy Virtue presents a bustling brothel interior filled with characters engaged in flirtation, negotiation, and playful seduction. At the centre, a richly dressed courtesan lifts her glass toward a gentleman visitor, her confident gesture signalling both invitation and dominance. Around them, other figures whisper, bargain, drink, or wait their turn, each contributing to a vivid narrative of pleasure and excess.

Despite the convivial atmosphere, the painting belongs to the moralising genre known as “warning pictures” (waerschuwende beelden). These works delighted viewers with humour and recognisable social types while simultaneously condemning irresponsible behaviour. The dishevelled room, strewn objects, and exaggerated gestures are coded signs that reveal the consequences of vice: squandered wealth, deception, and moral ruin.

The artist pays particular attention to the dramatic fall of light, which isolates key figures and guides the viewer’s eye through the composition. Small touches—the glint of a wine jug, the sparkle of jewellery, the sly smile of the procuress—heighten the theatricality of the scene. The work thus captures both the allure and the underlying danger of the brothel environment, a dual perspective typical of Flemish genre painting of the mid-17th century.

With its refined execution, witty psychological observation, and subtle moralising undertone, this copper exemplifies the enduring popularity of such domestic comedies, created for an affluent clientele who enjoyed their blend of entertainment and ethical reflection.