Cornelis Bega (Haarlem 1631/32-1664)

We are grateful to Peter van den Brink of the Suermondt Museum, Aachen, for dating this lot to 1654-55. It is close in style to Bega's A Merry company making music outside an inn in the Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, and another Merry company in the Museum of Fine Arts, Leipzig, which both can be dated circa 1655 (see: P. van den Brinck, B.W. Lindemann, Cornelis Bega, Eleganz und raue Sitten, Aachen, 2012, pp.111-3, no. 11).