The Brawl
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
9 5/8 x 7 1/2 in. (24.4 x 19.1 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931
Accession Number
32.100.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Adriaen Brouwer’s “The Brawl” captures a moment of raw human conflict in a compact oil-on-wood panel measuring just under ten inches high. The small scale invites close viewing, allowing visitors to appreciate the expressive faces and dynamic poses of the men locked in anger. Brouwer, a Flemish painter active in the early seventeenth century, specialized in such genre scenes drawn from everyday tavern life, using lively brushwork to convey energy and emotion within modest formats. Painted on wood, the medium lends itself to fine detail and luminous effects, qualities that heighten the immedia...
About the Artist
Adriaen Brouwer · 1605–1638
Son of a tapestry designer and an embroidress (or perhaps dressmaker). Legend has it that his widowed mother placed him as an apprentice in the studio of Frans Hals in Haarlem. In 1626 Brouwer moved to Amsterdam and was a successful artist. Comment on works: Genre; Religious; Landscapes