This painting, depicting four people amusing themselves in a tavern, probably had a deeper meaning. The pretzel symbolises the fragility of life, which is easily broken. It also depicts a contest: which side of the pretzel will break first when two people pull it? Since the woman is using two fingers, the painting may also be about cheating.
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This painting, depicting four people amusing themselves in a tavern, probably had a deeper meaning. The pretzel symbolises the fragility of life, which is easily broken. It also depicts a contest: which side of the pretzel will break first when two people pull it? Since the woman is using two fingers, the painting may also be about cheating.
Inv. nr. 16463 stelt een vrouwenlist voor. het werk is lange tijd beschouwd als het pendant van Jan van Bijlert, 'Wafel en Pannenkoek etend gezelschap', 1630-1640. Doek, 90,3 x 120,6 cm. Braunschweig, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum. Zie Delft 1969(a), p. 60; Braunschweig 1978, cat.nr.7, p. 61; Klessmann in Braunschweig 1983, cat. nr. 187, p. 41; Döring 1987. De schilderijen werden als pendanten getoond in Kopenhagen 1988, cat. nrs. 1001 en 1001a, p. 307. Zie echter Huys Janssen 1994(a), cat. nr. 128, pp. 192-193 en cat. nr. 131, pp. 195-196 en Huys Janssen 1998, cat. nr. 140, p. 152
Documentation
21ste Oude Kunst- en Antiekbeurs, p. 60, met afb.
Brood : De geschiedenis van het brood en het broodgebruik in Nederland, Voorw. Dr. W.A.L. Beeren ; tekst Drs. J. R. ter Molen, (Rotterdam, 1983), p. 83, afb. op p. 82, cat. nr. 322
Christian IV and Europe, p. 307, cat. nr. 1001, afb. op p.309