Tavern Owner on a Veranda with Two of Her Staff and a Client

On a veranda, a richly dressed Black woman sits at a table and prepares a pipe for herself. She is attended by two employees, one of whom offers her a goblet of wine. A man identifiable by his clothing as a Spanish soldier pesters the standing Black woman who is looking to gain the attention of the seated woman, likely her boss. Given the artist Willem van Herp's visual vocabulary in other works, the suggestion of a grand building and exchange between two members of the group, suggest that the well dressed woman in yellow silk, accessorized by a pearl necklace and emerald brooch, is the owner of a tavern that offers a brothel on the side. The signs of her economic success speak to the growing participation of people of African ancestry in the economic life of the Southern Netherlands in the mid 1600s. The directness with which she is shown as she turns toward the young man raises the possibility that this is a portrait. In any case it is a remarkably early European painting of a Black woman business owner/manager.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Jean-François Berthault du Tombel, Noyon, by 1799 [mode of acquisition unknown]; sale, Paillet Delaroche (auction house), Paris, 30 May 1799; sale, Masson, Paris, 20 February 1817. Private collection, France, and by descent in the family; sale, Sotheby’s, Paris, 22 June 2010, lot 8; Rafael Valls Ltd, London, 2010, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2023, by purchase.