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Description: | The scene is a copy of a detail from the large Proverbs painting by David Teniers the Younger, from the late 1640s, now in the collection of the Duke of Rutland in Belvoir Castle. It depicts the Dutch proverb 'to gape against an oven' or, in the medieval version, 'he who would out-gape an oven will have to gape for a long time'. In other words, there is no point in trying to achieve the impossible, as the mouth of an oven will always gape wider. The proverb was very popular and can be found on numerous medieval corbels, capitals and misericords in the Netherlands and Flanders. It also appeared in Pieter Bruegel's 1559 Proverbs painting in Berlin. | Subjects: | allegory (proverb); figure; interior | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Teniers, David, II (Flemish painter, 1610-1690) Æ After | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8638... | Go to resource |
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