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The King Drinks

Copy after Jacob Jordaens Flemish
ca. 1645–50
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.”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The King Drinks
  • Artist: Copy after Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, Antwerp 1593–1678 Antwerp)
  • Date: ca. 1645–50
  • Medium: 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
  • Dimensions: H. 6-3/4 in. x W. 10-7/8 in.
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.838
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Study of a Young Girl Drinking from a Glass, Jacob Jordaens Flemish, Black and red chalk, heightened with white chalk, on light brown paper; framing lines in pen and brown ink
Study of a Young Girl Drinking from a Glass
Jacob Jordaens
ca. 1640–45
The Banquet of Anthony and Cleopatra, Jacob Jordaens Flemish, Pen and brown ink, watercolor, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk
The Banquet of Anthony and Cleopatra
Jacob Jordaens
17th century
Christ Healing the Paralytic, Jacob Jordaens Flemish, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash
Christ Healing the Paralytic
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1616–20
The Satyr and the Peasant
Jacob Jordaens
Lucas Vorsterman I
Adoration of the Shepherds, Jacob Jordaens Flemish, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over black chalk; framing lines in pen and black ink
Adoration of the Shepherds
Jacob Jordaens
17th century

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