The King Drinks

Copy after Jacob Jordaens Flemish

Not on view

This drawing, most likely by a student or studio member
of Jordaens’s workshop, combines two Flemish themes of
families feasting that Jordaens explored in multiple versions
late in his career. This domestic interior relates to popular
representations of the Twelfth Night banquet. To celebrate
the arrival of the Three Kings, families would often gather
for a sumptuous meal, crowning a man king for a night.
Characterized by uncouth behavior, such images often
carried a moralizing warning against excess. This drawing
shows a more restrained gathering, which suggests it also
illustrates the whimsical secular proverb “As the Old Sing,
So the Young Twitter.”

The King Drinks, Copy after Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, Antwerp 1593–1678 Antwerp), Red chalk with brush and gray, blue, and brown ink, and washes in the same colors over black chalk; remains of a black chalk framing line

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The King Drinks, Copy after Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, Antwerp 1593–1678 Antwerp), Red chalk with brush and gray, blue, and brown ink, and washes in the same colors over black chalk; remains of a black chalk framing line
The King Drinks, Copy after Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, Antwerp 1593–1678 Antwerp), Red chalk with brush and gray, blue, and brown ink, and washes in the same colors over black chalk; remains of a black chalk framing line

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