Outside of the De Kroon Inn
Outside of the De Kroon Inn
Outside of the De Kroon Inn
By Jan Miense Molenaer
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Outside of the De Kroon Inn
Outside of the De Kroon Inn
Outside of the De Kroon Inn
In front of the inn, called De Kroon, a group of people sit smoking and playing cards. There is music and some are flirting. The wheelbarrow and spade stand idle, the basket is empty. Wasteful pleasure, this is not the way it should be according to Jan Miense Molenaer. A painting with a message: the encouragement of propriety. Sensual pleasure is only temporary as is illustrated by the child on the pot. According to a 17th-century Dutch rhyme ‘our bodies are but stink and dung’. The three pigs on the flag also bode ill: pigs stand for greed, lust and drunkenness.