Merrymakers at Shrovetide

The revellers include Hans Wurst and Pekelharing, characters from Shrovetide theatre. Painters' guilds were among those staging such performances. The central female costume is probably worn by a man.

The central figure smiles in an ornate red dress. A male performer probably wears the female costume as part of festive theatre.

A bearded man in a broad black hat leans inward. His close position belongs to the exaggerated performance of festive characters.

The red-capped man looks down from above. Hals places faces at different heights to keep the crowded group legible.

At the left, a hand grips a long brown object. Props and exaggerated gestures belong to the Shrovetide theatrical setting.

A large dark drinking vessel stands on the table. Food and drink provide the festival’s material setting.

A plate of food sits nearby. The museum relates festive foods to erotic allusions understood within this theatrical tradition.

Hals worked in Haarlem and joined the painters’ guild in 1610. Guild festivities belonged to his familiar social world. His free brushwork later attracted Manet and other nineteenth-century painters.