Peeckelhaeringh

Peeckelhaeringh, or Pekelharing, refers to an old Dutch word for pickled herring. Today it is best known as the name of a comic theatrical character who was the subject of a painting by Frans Hals.

Peeckelhaeringh
German: 'Der lustige Zecher / Herr Peeckelhaering'
Artist	Frans Hals
Year	1628–1630
Type	Tronie
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	75 cm x 61.5 cm
Location	Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel, Germany
Accession	216

A stock character in 17th-century comic plays, Mr. Peeckelhaering was a gluttonous buffoon whose diet of herring gave him an insatiable thirst.[1] Hals's painting of the character is an oil on canvas and dates from ca. 1628–1630.[1] The painting was documented by Cornelis Hofstede de Groot in 1910, who wrote:

95. THE MERRY TOPER. B. 97; M. 267. Half-length, life size. A laughing man with a brown face is turned half right. His head is slightly inclined to the left; he looks at the spectator. He has a slight beard and moustache. His rough hair sticks out from beneath a flat red cap with yellow trimming. His costume is also red and yellow. In his left hand he holds a mug with open lid. In the same style as 96 and 98. This picture is represented in two pictures by Jan Steen, Nos. 137 and 446 (see Vol. I.). [Pendant to 123. Compare 99a.] Signed on the right above the mug " f. hals f."; canvas, 29 1/2 inches by 24 inches. Engraved by J. Suyderhoef as "Monsieur Peeckelhaering." Under the name "Peeckelhaering" pictures are mentioned in the inventories of Henric Bugge, Leyden, 1666; Hendrick Huyck, Nymwegen, January 10, 1669; and Jan Zeeuw and Marie Bergervis, who died 1690, Amsterdam according to notes by A. Bredius. A copy on canvas, 29 1/2 inches by 26 inches, signed on the right with the monogram was in the sale: Vicomte de Buisseret, Brussels, April 29, 1891, No. 41. In the chief Kassel inventory of 1749, No. 363. In the Kassel Gallery, 1903 catalogue, No. 216.[2]

A reproductive print of Hals's painting made by the local engraver Jonas Suyderhoef was published with a poem declaring that "Mr. Peeckelhaering's wet lips show how he enjoys a fresh mug of beer because his throat is always dry."