Oil Painting, 'The Oyster Meal', after Frans van Mieris (1661), 19th century.

Interior scene with a woman seated at a table covered with a Turkish blanket; she is offered a meal of oysters and white wine by a man standing besides her. She is holding a glass of wine and an oyster, and is wearing a fur-trimmed cape and a silk white dress. A curtained bed is depicted behind them.

Bequeathed by John Jones

Bequeathed by John Jones, 1882.
John Jones (1800-1882) was first in business as a tailor and army clothier in London 1825, and opened a branch in Dublin 1840. Often visited Ireland, travelled to Europe and particularly France. He retired in 1850, but retained an interest in his firm. Lived quietly at 95 Piccadilly from 1865 to his death in January 1882. After the Marquess of Hertford and his son Sir Richard Wallace, Jones was the principal collector in Britain of French 18th century fine and decorative arts. Jones bequeathed an important collection of French 18th century furniture and porcelain to the V&A, and among the British watercolours and oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A are subjects which reflect his interest in France.

See also South Kensington Museum Art Handbooks. The Jones Collection. With Portrait and Woodcuts. Published for the Committee of Council on Education by Chapman and Hall, Limited, 11, Henrietta Street. 1884.
Chapter I. Mr. John Jones. pp.1-7.
Chapter II. No.95, Piccadilly. pp.8-44. This gives a room-by-room guide to the contents of John Jones' house at No.95, Piccadilly.
Chapter VI. ..... Pictures,... and other things, p.138, "The pictures which are included in the Jones bequest are, with scarcely a single exception, valuable and good; and many of them excellent works of the artists. Mr. Jones was well pleased if he could collect enough pictures to ornament the walls of his rooms, and which would do no discredit to the extraordinary furniture and other things with which his house was filled."

Historical significance: This painting is a close copy, probably of 19th century date, of a well known painting, The oyster meal, dated 1661, Mauritshuis, The Hague. Many copies were made after it: Otto Naumann, in his 1981 monograph, counted around 32 painted copies, several in British collections, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. It was reproduced as a print by Johann Nepomuk Strixner in Munich in 1818, and by Albert Henry Payne (1812 - 1902)

This is clearly a 'vice and virtue' scene with a moral message. An older man offers a plate of oysters to a young woman, who accepts it. Oysters were known for their aphrodisiac properties, as was wine, a glass of which she holds in the other hand. The curtained bed depicted behind them alludes to the consequences of the girl's acceptance of the man's advances.

'Genre painting' deals with scenes of everyday life, typically in domestic interiors or the countryside, and is especially associated with 17th-century Netherlands, where its leading figures were Jan Steen (1626-1679), Frans van Mieris (1635-1681) and Gerard Ter Borch (1617-1681).

Van Mieris was, along with Gerrit Dou, the most important artist among the Leiden 'fine painters' known for their small scale genre paintings full of minute detail and executed in a polished style.

Originally thought to be by Mieris (1893), this has long been recognised as a 19th century. copy of a composition by van Mieris of which there are versions in the Alte Pinakotheke, Munich, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and elsewhere.

Frans van Mieris (1635-1681) was trained by Abraham Toorenvliet (ca. 1620-1692) and by Gerrit Dou (1613-1675), one of the most eminent Rembrandt's pupils in Leyden. He specialised in small scale genre painting with exceptional refinement and had a strong influence on younger painters, anticipating the late 17th-century development of a more stylised and precious form. Among his pupils were Carel de Moor (1655-1738) and his own son, Willem (1662-1747) (see Museum No. 186-1894).

This painting is one of the many copies of a very popular picture, The oyster meal, executed in 1661 by Frans van Mieris the Elder (Mauristhuis, The Hague). It shows an illegitimate couple formed by a young woman and an older man in the act of offering her a plate of oysters, a dish known, as well as the wine, for its aphrodisiac virtues. As she is taking one oyster and holding the glass of wine, it is clear that the girl accepts the man's proposal, the curtained bed behind them being an allusion of the consequences. As a Leiden 'Fine' painter, Frans van Mieris was particularly skilled in representing all sorts of textures: here the fur-trimmed cape and a silk white dress are masterly rendered as well as the sparkles of light reflecting in the jar, the tin plate and the glass. Frans van Mieris was particularly attentive to make his brushstrokes invisible. He expanded significantly the range of subjects commonly depicted in Leiden and influenced other contemporary masters such as Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667), Jan Steen (ca. 1625-1679), Jacob Ochtervelt (1634-1682) and Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675).

499-1882