Object number1985.21

Battle for the Breeches

Datec. 1635

Artist Adriaen van de Venne (Dutch, 1589-1662)

CultureDutch

MediumOil on panel

DimensionsUnframed: 20 1/2 x 31 1/8 in. (52 x 79 cm)
Framed: 27 9/16 x 37 x 1 3/16 in. (70 x 94 x 3 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Friends of the Vassar College Art Gallery Fund

On View

On view

Period16th c / 17th c

Classification(s)

Painting

MarkingsRemnant of cradling with inscription in ink(?) soaked into wook: [B?] 24 (see sketch).

ProvenancePurchase by the Friends of the Vassar Art Gallery, 1985
Exhibition HistoryOmaha, Nebraska, Joslyn Art Museum, Sarasota, Florida John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Little Rock, Arkansas, Arkansas Art Center, (by American Federation of the Arts) "Hot Dry Men, Cold Wet Women: The Theory of Humors and Depictions of Men and Women in Western European Art of the 1600s," August 1, 1997-June 1, 1998.

Label TextSince the Middle Ages, artists and poets have alluded to the struggle for power between husband and wife by posing the metaphorical question: “who wears the pants?” Although related in its basic iconography to this age-old theme, this painting refers to a different struggle, one that pits women against other women. Van de Venne used a print similar to this painting to illustrate his lengthy poem, Tableau of the Laughable World (1635). In it, a young peasant woman, Soetje, rejects the romantic advances of Lammert because she desires another man, the son of a brewer. If she is too particular, Lammert warns, she could end up desperate. He recalls women in pictures that depict seven frantic spinsters who, young and old, rich and poor, “driven wild, fight for an empty pair of breeches.” He claims that if she does not want him, others certainly will. Eventually, Soetje suffers for her choosiness; she is left without Lammert and without the brewer’s son.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu