Cornelis Bega

Family in the Inn (La Mere au Cabaret)

Cornelis Bega's original etching, "Family in the Inn (La Mere au Cabaret)" is printed upon thin, laid paper. Lke all second state impressions of this famous etching, the contrasts between light and dark are not as sharply defined as in the very rare first state. Yet this impression bears all the fine lines in the foreground that are usually eliminated in late printings. It is thus probable that this particular impression was printed in the early eighteenth century. "La Mere au Cabaret" depicts a man and his wife with a newly born child and the inn keeper holding a large container of ale. It is a superb, original example of the etched art created by the Dutch artist, Cornelis Bega.

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Family in the Inn Original Etching by Cornelis Bega

Family in the Inn ("La Mere au Cabaret")

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Title:	Family in the Inn ("La Mere au Cabaret")
Artist:	Bega, Cornelis (Haarlem, Holland, c. 1631 - 1664)
Date:	c. 1660 (Posthumous Impression)
Medium:	Original Etching
Note:	"Bega's later tavern scenes do not have the cozy mood of his teacher Ostade's works of the 1640's on. They are characterized by a harsher mood, a furtive, even sinister air." *
	"Bega, Ostade's best pupil, ... is visibly much fuller than his erstwhile master, of virile qualities; he has energy and decision; he is more largely pictorial; he is certainly broader in the effects aimed at, and thoroughly attained. About his strength there is refreshment and renewal. ... Bega depicts with an amazing force and charm those two things in the world with which he elects to be concerned: shadow and light in the first place, and, in the second, the human life of the class it has been his pleasure or his fate to live amongst." **
	In the great history of seventeenth century Dutch etching the prints of Cornelis Pietersz Bega stand alone. Dutch etchings of daily life were not uncommon. Scenes of peasants in taverns and inns were so popular, in fact, that they almost constituted a genre. Bega, however, took this common subject matter, previously rooted in the laughable or sentimental, and transformed it with emotional intensity.
	Born in Haarlem, Cornelis Bega was the son of a silversmith and the grandson of the mannerist painter, Cornelis van Haarlem. He studied etching and painting techniques under Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), and shared his master's inclination for depicting peasant scenes.
	Cornelis Bega's earliest work dates from 1650. Apart from travels in 1653 to both Germany and Switzerland he remained in Haarlem for all of his short life. He was admitted to the Haarlem Artist's Guild in 1654 and died ten years later.
	The graphic oeuvre of Cornelis Bega consists of but thirty-six etchings. Of these twenty-one are either single head portrayals or full length figure studies. His fame, therefore rest upon the remaining (and remarkable) fifteen etchings created near the end of his life which depict groups of figures, in tight, geometric forms. For instance, in Family in the Inn, the figures are almost locked together in a pyramidal grouping. This structure is fully heightened by the strong contrasts of light and dark, behind them, and by the intentionally unfinished foreground. Our eyes are fixed to the primary three figures and their motions and expressions.
	Coming between the man and his wife and newly born child is the inn keeper, holding a large container of ale. An uncomfortable rift is thus created, emphasized both by the sinister appearance of the inn keeper and by the dark shadows in the background. Is Bega thus suggesting that alcohol is the danger that might possibly cause ruination to this family? Perhaps, but the emotional elements within this great etching are neither straightforward nor didactic.
	Unlike many of his contemporaries, Cornelis Bega's mature etchings and paintings of peasant life do not seem to point to moralizing commentary. Rather they depict a highly imaginary world of figures set within strong areas of light and dark more reminiscent of a theatre stage than an inn or tavern. In these ways, Bega's art is much closer to the etchings and aquatints of Goya and his Caprichos than to his fellow seventeenth century Dutch etchers. Within this theatre he gives us humanity, complete with its inevitable virtues and vices. In Family in the Inn the inn keeper definitely introduces a threatening element but this is countered by the obvious love and caring we see in the mother to her child. Such ambiguities always lie in close proximity and Bega's genius lies in his unique ability to portray them.
Raisonnes:	Eugene Dutuit, Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes: Ecoles flamande et et hollandaise, Paris, 1881.
	Catalogue #31, Second and Final State.
Reference:	* Clifford S. Ackley, Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt, Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts, 1981, p. 256.
	** Frederick Wedmore, Etchings, London, Methuen, 1912, pp. 16 and 17.
Size:	6 X 4 1/2 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials
Condition:	Printed on thin, laid paper with small margins extending past the plate-mark on all sides. Like all second state impressions of this famous etching, the contrasts between light and dark are not as sharply defined as in the very rare first state. Yet this impression bears all the fine lines in the foreground that are usually eliminated in late printings. It is thus probable that this particular impression was printed in the early eighteenth century. Containing faint tape staining on the verso upper corners, else a finely printed impression and in very good condition throughout. Family in the Inn represents a superb, original example of the famous etched art of Cornelis Bega.
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