An Elegant Company

1632

A master of scenes of finely dressed revelers known as “merry companies,” Pieter Codde here demonstrated his sharp sense of composition. He animated a gathering of guests and attendants through a complex network of gestures, glances, and poses, with a young woman dressed in luxurious silver satin at center. Such images of joyful gatherings would have functioned as models of polite behavior to cosmopolitan art collectors.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Pieter Codde (Dutch, 1599-1678)

Date

1632

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

58.8 × 92.7 cm (23 1/8 × 36 1/2 in.); Framed: 84.8 × 118.1 × 6.4 cm (33 3/8 × 46 1/2 × 2 1/2 in.)

Origin

Holland

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection