Artwork
Bricklayer smoking a pipe
Bricklayer smoking a pipe is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist David Teniers the Younger. It dates from 1650 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Technique & Style
Executed in 1650, this genre scene by David Teniers the Younger is an oil painting on a wooden panel. The work measures 33 cm in height and 29 cm in width. Created in Brussels, the piece exemplifies the artist's approach to depicting everyday life through the medium of oil on panel, a standard support for Flemish genre paintings of the period.
History & Provenance
Painted in 1650, the work is recorded as an oil on panel measuring 33 by 29 cm.
Its ownership chain begins with the Kabinet van Heteren Gevers, where it was held before entering the Rijksmuseum collection. The painting is documented as part of the holdings assembled by Adriaan Leonard van Heteren Gevers, indicating his ownership prior to the work’s transfer to the museum.
Overview
David Teniers the Younger’s oil painting, titled Bricklayer Smoking a Pipe, dates from around 1650 and is part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection.
David Teniers the Younger’s oil painting, titled Bricklayer Smoking a Pipe, dates from around 1650 and is part of the Rijksmuseum’s collection. The work depicts a cramped interior where a group of men gathers around a central figure, a bricklayer in a white cap and apron, who holds a child and puffs on a pipe. The composition is populated with everyday objects such as barrels, jars, tools, and a dog, creating a vivid snapshot of ordinary life.
Subject & Meaning
The central figure is identified as a bricklayer by the presence of masonry tools scattered on the floor. His relaxed posture, pipe, and the child in his arms suggest a brief respite from labor, while the surrounding men appear engaged in conversation and laughter. The inclusion of domestic details, dog, barrels, and cluttered shelves, underscores the painting’s genre focus on the quotidian experiences of working‑class individuals.
Context
During the mid‑seventeenth century, Flemish artists like Teniers turned to scenes of daily labor to appeal to a growing bourgeois market interested in relatable, moralizing subjects. The depiction of a bricklayer at rest reflects contemporary attitudes toward work, leisure, and family life, offering insight into the social fabric of urban workshops in the Spanish Netherlands.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, and artist.
