CORNELIS DUSART (Haarlem 1660-1704)

Dusart’s drawings in colored chalks showing seated peasants are amongst the most engaging genre drawings of the late 17th Century. They stand out for their quality, original use of color and, perhaps most importantly, for their immediacy. The present sheet, showing a casually seated man with a confident and direct gaze, is a characteristic example of this type of drawing. It can be compared to a number of similarly executed figure drawings, including A young man lounging, smoking a pipe, previously in the I.Q. van Regteren Altena collection (sold at Christie’s, Amsterdam, 13 May 2015, lot 219), a Study of a seated peasant in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 40.91.13), and A seated man drinking from an earthenware tankard and holding a pipe, previously in the Martin Feldstein Collection, sold at Christie’s, New York, 15 October 2020, lot 7.