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An interior with 16 figures. At the left, viewed from the side, is a fireplace with brass firedogs and beside it a cabinet with gold and glass drinking vessels laid out on it. A boy pours wine into a glass from a decanter and a brown and white dog lies beside the fire in the foreground. The company are arranged around a table, the centrepiece of which is a swan pie. The figures are divided into two groups; at the left are five people, including a seated lady, who has her back to us, and a man who doffs his hat to another woman. The larger group at the right of the composition comprises a man in plum-coloured doublet playing the bass viol and facing him, a lutenist, who also appears to be singing in the direction of the seated lady on his right, who is strikingly dressed in blue and yellow and provides the chief focus of the scene.
Title
Merry Company (Interior with Cavaliers and Ladies)
Date
1630s
Medium
oil on wood
Measurements
H 59.7 x W 87.6 cm
Accession number
NCM 1904-95
Acquisition method
bequeathed by Mr Richard Godson Millns, 1904
Work type
Painting