Drinkende man before 1676

Lambert Doomer made this chalk drawing of a man drinking sometime in the 17th century. It is not clear where the drawing was made, but Doomer traveled extensively through France and Germany. Drawings like this one would have been made in preparation for more elaborate paintings. At this time, Dutch and Flemish artists were very interested in scenes of everyday life. These images of peasants drinking in taverns, for example, often carried a moral message. Sometimes these images would carry a Catholic warning about the sin of drunkenness. But they might also represent a kind of national pride in the pleasures of the senses. The Dutch Republic had just fought for its independence from Spain, and was asserting a distinctive cultural identity. To understand this image fully, we might investigate the history of Dutch taverns, the history of clothing, and the changing visual codes of social class. By looking at this drawing closely and by doing social-historical research, we can uncover some of the meanings it had in its time.