Contact gallery for price		Egbert van Heemskerk The Younger Haarlem c.1635 – 1704 London An Artist at his Easel with his Family Oil on canvas 9 3/8 x 12 1/8 inches (23.8 x 30.8 cm.) Egbert van Heemskerk the Elder was an adept painter of interior peasant scenes. His son and pupil, Egbert van Heemskerk the Younger (c. 1634-1704), was also a painter and draftsman active in England with a style closely allied to that of his father. Heemskerk the Elder often portrayed episodes of peasant life and drunken debauchery with an element of comical drollery. His pictures are rendered in dark tones and deep shadows, sometimes with light entering from one side, a palette well suited to the character of the indoor scenes and subjects that he depicts. His work recalls that of David Teniers and Adriaen van Ostade. In our genre picture, Heemskerk examines the experience of the artist, clearly depicting him as one of the working class. The composition is full of figures: the artist and members of his family, housed in a dim, rough cottage. Each figure is shown working diligently, including the woman at the far right who kneads dough and, to her left, the young boy crouched thoughtfully over his book. The picture is somber, the palette primarily dark shades of sepia, with accents of red or beige. In addition, the distribution of light & dark throughout the painting serves as a language, with which Heemskerk narrates the experience of an artist. The interior is dreary, yet a thin shaft of light leans in from the window on the far left of the picture, lighting its way across the room, upon the artist, his easel, and each face of the family members. The artist is spatially set apart from the others in the room and he wears a detached expression on his face, as if he were disconnected from his immediate surroundings. However, he is still very much connected, in his physical presence, to his family and to the present – as recognized by the smiling girl standing by his easel and the woman casting a friendly glance over her shoulder in the direction of the artist, perhaps her husband or brother. Heemskerk thus describes the interaction between artist and artist’s environment, through the pattern of light he paints and placement of figures within this pattern of illumination.