An Old Woman at a Window emptying a Chamber Pot ('Sleazy Bess')
after Frans van Mieris the elder (Leiden 1635 - Leiden 1681)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1700 - 1724
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
235 x 190 mm (9 1/4 x 7 1/2 in)
Place of origin
Holland
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1151396
Summary
Oil painting on panel, An Old Woman at a Window emptying a Chamber Pot ('Sleazy Bess'), after Frans van Mieris the elder (Leyden 1635 - Leyden 1681). This is a painted copy after a lost original. The engraving, 'Goore Beje', by Hendrick Bary (1640 - 1707) bears the inscription: Hou! gore Besjen hou! hebt gij uw Eer verloren/ Dat gij uw Vuylicheyt op Eerb're hoofden Stort:/ Of tracht gij, door dien Drek. ons d'ogen [i]uyt te boren;/ Op dat uw' rimp'lend Vel. niet meer gezien en word. F. Mieris pinx. (bottom left) H.Bary [sic] Sculp. (bottom right). [Woa! foul Crone Stop! /Have you lost your Honour;/ That you cast your Dirt on honourable heads? /Or are you trying through this shit, /To make us avert our eyes; /So that your wrinkily skin is not seen any more?] and some of the prints have J. Tangenas exc added in the middle of the inscription.
Provenance
Possibly one of two pictures described in undated early 19th century Erddig inventory as a 'Dutch Figure' and thence by descent; given by Philip Yorke III (1905 – 1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973
Credit line
Erddig, The Yorke Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Frans van Mieris the elder (Leiden 1635 - Leiden 1681), artist previously catalogued as manner of Gerrit Dou (Leiden 1613 - Leiden 1675), artist
References
Erddig 1800-29 Inventory of contents of Erddig, 1800-1829, ? "Dutch Figure" Schama 1987 Simon Schama, The Embarassment of Riches An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, 1987, p. 430, fig. 206 Frans van Mieris 1635 - 1681 (exh cat) (Quentin Buvelot), Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague, 1 October 2005 - 22 January 2006 and National Gallery of Art, Washington, 26 February - 21 May 2006, p. 60 , illus. 21, related engraving, after a 'lost' original - Naumann, 1981, vol. 1, p. 169, vol. 2, pp. 9-10, no. 3; E. de Jongh in Amsterdam 1977, pp. 337-340