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The Raree-show (’t Fraay Curieus)
Also titled De rarekiek (’t Fraay Curieus)
Willem van Mieris (Leiden, 1662–1747)
1718
- Medium
- panel, oil paint (paint)
- Classification
- painting
- Dimensions
- height 58 cm x width 49 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt, with additional funding from the Prins Bernhard Fonds and the Rijksmuseum Fonds
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: it carries racist caricature. How works are placed
About this work
The old Dutch title (in parentheses) refers to the cries ‘beautiful!’ (fraai) and ‘extraordinary!’ (curieus) with which itinerant performers announced themselves. Here a performer shows a wooden triptych with characters from a chivalric romance, while undoubtedly recounting the tale to those gathered around. Willem van Mieris was a ‘fine painter’, meaning that he rendered the scene in a highly detailed and refined manner. The painting is actually also a kind of peepshow.
