Adriaan Meulemans (Dordrecht 1763-1835 The Hague)

The Dordrecht born painter and draughtsman Adriaan Meulemans specialized in moonlit or candlelit interiors. These intimate scenes, such as the present drawing, show the influence of 17th Century Dutch genre painters like Gerrit Dou (1613-1675) and Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706). The framing of a composition with a curtained arch is typical of the 'Leidse Fijnschilders'.

According to Meulemans' inscription on the verso of the present drawing, the artist presented it to the important Amsterdam based collector and patron Josephus Augustinus Brentano (1753-1821). When his estate was sold in 1822 it included more than 400 paintings, 65 drawings and 350 prints. Whether the drawing was still part of the collection at this point is hard to establish, since the drawings were not all described separately in the sale catalogue.