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3 9.5 (2)

Shrovetide Revellers  1617

by Frans Hals

The loud style of this early work by Hals suits its subject, which is Vastenavond (Shrovetide or Mardi Gras), a pre-Lenten carnival featuring bad food and worse behavior. Two characters from the comic stage, Peeckelhaering (Pickled Herring) and Hans Wurst (John Wiener?), cozy up to a young "lady" with a Dutch boy haircut and a bull neck. Hans's gesture, the deflated bagpip...
Credit: 
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art