Gillis van Tilborgh

(Brussels, ca. 1625 – ca. 1678)

At the Door to the Inn

Second half of 17th century

oil on canvas

66.3 x 82.2 cm

Inv. no. P00194

BBVA Collection Spain



The seventeenth century is the Golden Age of Flemish painting, the moment when the economic growth of the Netherlands encouraged its bourgeoisie to start collecting art. Local artists responded to the demand with traditional subject matters, but new themes also began to emerge, including genre scenes aimed at depicting the everyday lives of the lower classes. This new form of intimate and realistic representation became one of the most innovative typologies of the time and became highly popular in the market.

A key element in this development is the major role of genre scenes depicting peasants in their leisure time. That is the case of the work in hand, whose precise attribution can be credited to Matías Díaz Padrón, who, in an article published in the magazine Antiquaria, argued that Gillis van Tilborgh was the author of the work. Worth underscoring is the difficulty in finding paintings by the artist in Spain, making this work an exception in Spanish collections.

An important master of the Antwerp School, specialised in genre scenes, Gillis van Tilborgh brought to this canvas his signature style, both in terms of structure but also in the technique and models used. The play of light and the diagonally layered skies, the arrangement of the figures in a cross-shape or the use of architectural features and paths that lend depth to the composition are some of this artist’s customary resources.

Worth underscoring is how the painter manages to establish a communication between the characters, an extremely original detail that makes this work unique in his output. Technically speaking, the vigorous execution with short diluted brushstrokes reveals an interesting study of colour that provides hints of an innovative painterly language. The finely rendered gestures and elegant features of the young woman are not at odds with her lowly station, a fairly standard trait of van Tilborgh’s painting, thus distancing himself from the coarseness depicted by other Flemish artists when it came to representing this kind of scene.