GET YOUR ASPIRIN READY!
Champagne, wine and beer have all been around in some form or another for 100’s of years. Popping the cork and toasting with sparkling, fizzy champagne as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve is a tradition in many households around the world. Having a special wine with a particular meal or bringing friends together for happy hour also insures memories worth keeping. These are all social norms we have been adhering to for 100’s of years.
We have also been adhering to the norm of overindulgence! Celebrating a bit too much is also not anything new. Plays, poems and paintings have all been created in the name of revelry or too much of it! Often it was with what was accessible at the time - grapes and thus wine in southern Europe and hops for beer in northern Europe and North America. Lest we not forget the great ‘Gin Craze’ in 18th Century England which put the country into a moral tailspin due to such excessive public drunkenness!
But beer, although easier to produce in northern Europe, has frequently been the staple, even popular with the Ancient Greeks before being eclipsed by wine. The overindulgence (and enjoyment) of beer has also not gone unnoticed, with a long-documented history of debauchery. Drink, drinking and drunkenness have provided subject matter almost from the earliest recorded history of art. How many depictions of Bacchus have we seen? In the 17th century, we run across a variety of decadence from parties at taverns to households in disarray, usually from the effects of drinking. Our painting by Quiringh van Brekelenkam is no different. He and his fellow artists rarely worked for individual patrons but instead in an open market whose main outlets consisted of auctions and dealers. As competition was fierce, artists tried to stand out by specializing in certain subjects or by the introduction of original themes, which would then be associated exclusively with their name.
A large part of the appeal of these genre scenes was the opportunity it afforded the viewer of sharing a private moment with the subject. In this painting, The Tired Drinker, the contemporary viewer would have not only appreciated the wit and imagination of the artist and the degree of descriptive skill the painting involves, but also the direct warning against overindulgence. It is a good guess that they needed this warning. Drinking alcohol was an integral part of Dutch social and cultural life. Toasts were made to the health of unborn babies, for jobs or promotions, and at funerals. Young people started to consume alcohol at an early age (although in quite diluted forms). However, within this culture one needed to learn how to drink in moderation. Excessive drinking was not only a cardinal sin, it was also a contradiction in the realm of gender. For males, the act of getting drunk and losing control was an imperfection in their masculinity. It was said that men ‘became like women’ (believed to be incapable of controlling their mind and body) when they were too intoxicated. On the other hand, the ability to drink great quantities of alcohol symbolized an age-old form of masculinity. Partaking in "wine, women, and song" were part of the inherent rights in becoming men and distinguishing themselves from boys.
As we see in this charming panel a young man has fallen asleep after having too much to drink. His broken glass lies at his feet, while the barmaid chalks up an additional dram to his account. A map stretched on rods decorates the back wall. German hops were brought over to the Netherlands in the middle of the 14th century. From that time, the Dutch started brewing with hops on a more professional level and breweries started popping up across the country, growing quickly in popularity. The Dutch loved their beer. Legend has it that when the island of St. Martin in the Caribbean was divided between France and the Netherlands, a Frenchman and a Dutchman stood back-to-back at the centre of the island. They then paced off their shares. The Dutchman stopped often to drink beer. As a result, the Netherlands received a smaller part of the island. The Dutch beer drinking habits were legendary.
So, on this brink of a New Year, and for many, hopes of a more positive one, drink a toast to friends, family and particularly the Dutch if you like beer, who first launched a brewhouse in 1632 in Nieuw Amsterdam (Manhattan) on a street called Brouwersstraat. Once repaved its name changed to Steenstraat (Stone Street) and is still there today. Just remember that if you overindulge, at least we now have aspirin!
Happy New Year and all the best wishes for 2021!
31 December, 2020