17th century Dutch school. "Tavern Scene". Oil on canvas. There is slight damage to the margins due to an old frame. Measurements: 60 x 94 cm. Placed in a modest interior, the present scene shows an inconsequential subject placed in a tavern. Two men drink beer and smoke a pipe around a table turned into a barrel, while a group of other drinkers are also gathered, in the background, around another table. All the figures are dressed in the fashion of the day and converse with each other, as can be deduced from their gestures. They are accompanied by a series of elements (jugs, vessels), the qualities of which the artist has been concerned with, as has been customary in the school since the Gothic works and the introduction of oil as a binding agent with the so-called Flemish. This work therefore belongs to the genre of tavern painting, created in early Baroque Flanders by the masters Adriaen Brouwer (1605-1638) and David Teniers (1610-1690), which was soon to arrive in Holland. As their name suggests, these are scenes set in taverns, known as costumbrist works because they depict the common practices of the common people of the time, with a considerable variety of styles, but always maintaining both the subject matter and a clear preference for an earthy palette. Influenced by the two masters mentioned above, the painter who produced this type of work usually worked an interior space with a very refined chromatic range, based on earthy and ochre tones, typical of early Baroque naturalism. In terms of style, these painters would normally be close to Teniers (more detailed works; precise, loose but short brushstrokes, defining the forms and qualities of figures and objects, without playing down the importance of the drawing) or Brower (more caricatured style, and brushstrokes and forms different from those of Teniers).