The Mauritshuis has acquired a unique painting by the Flemish artist Adriaen Brouwer. 'De IJdelheid' depicts a man curling his mustache with a pair of scissors. It is a rare representation of the Latin concept of 'Superbia', which means pride or vanity.
The acquisition originally belonged to a series of seven panels, often depicting a rustic figure (a total of six men and one woman) representing one of the seven deadly sins. The series got scattered around 1800, and the whereabouts of five paintings are still unknown. The painting known as 'Luxuria' is also part of the Mauritshuis collection.
His life
Adriaen Brouwer worked in Haarlem and Amsterdam before permanently settling in Antwerp. He died at the age of 32. Brouwer's work was highly regarded by his colleagues, including Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens, who collected paintings by his hand.
Today, the work of Brouwer, of whom about 65 paintings are known, is relatively rare. He primarily depicted peasant life, often featuring fighting or drinking peasants in or near taverns.
Later in his career, Brouwer began to combine various genres. For instance, he sometimes merged lively gatherings with portraiture and landscape painting. The painting The Smokers at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is a perfect example of this. The artwork features a self-portrait of Brouwer alongside several artists, including Jan Lievens, Jan Davidsz de Heem, and the aforementioned Joos van Craesbeeck.
