The Jester and his Cat - Flemish school of the 17th century

Oil on canvas
Written at the top: “Wie Sal De Cat De Bel Aen Hange"

Dimensions: 65 x 51 cm, 77 x 63 cm (framed)

THE ARTWORK
In the 1630s, Jacob Jordaens introduced two new themes to his body of work: The Twelfth Night (or The King Drinks) and As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe. Over the following decade and beyond, he frequently revisited these subjects, which both depicted lively scenes of domestic celebration and revelry. The Twelfth Night referenced the Epiphany festivities held on 6 January, where guests would assume various roles at a banquet, typically chosen by drawing lots. These roles included figures like the King, the doctor, and the servant, with one of the most important being the jester, or sot, who was tasked with keeping the group entertained.
While Jordaens initially portrayed the he eventually settled on a distinctive depiction of the grinning jester, as seen in this particular work. A preparatory head study, sold at Christie's in Amsterdam on 1 December 1986 (lot 46), may have been an early sketch for this figure. The laughing jester, sometimes holding a cat as he does here, became a recurring character in several versions of The Twelfth Night and As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe throughout the 1630s and 1640s. Notable examples of these works can be found in collections such as the Louvre, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Jordaens later developed the jester as a standalone figure, depicted holding the cat in his left arm. This composition became highly popular, and an engraving by Alexander Voet around 1645 featured the subject, accompanied by the inscription Fatvo ridemur in uno (“We all laugh through this one fool”). Another variation shows the jester and cat with a woman, both leaning out of a window, which was sold at Sotheby’s in New York on 28 May 1999 (lot 60).
The Twelfth Night
The twelfth night was the most important family gathering of the year in the seventeenth century Netherlands. It is a traditional but nog official holiday shaped out of a religious festival and mixed with pagan elements. It is interesting to note the secularization of the medieval lithrugical feast, which involved a shift in emphasis from the church festival to the domestic celebration. The most famous artists to treat the theme were Jan Steen and Jacob Jordaens. The jester had the hardest part, since he had to joke and keep the company laughing.