Two seated male drinkers quaffing ale from tankards or flagons - intended as a warning against drunkenness and over-indulgence. Carved in wood late 1400s CE. Misericord on underside of choir stall seat in the Oude Kerk (Old Church), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands: “two drunks under one roof”: this old Dutch proverb or saying is an obvious source for this late-15th century sculpted misericord showing two male drinkers sitting together, quaffing ale from tankards or flagons. The carving was sculpted between 1480 and 1500 on the underside of one of the folding choir stall seats in the Oude Kerk in Ouderkerksplein, which used to be a Roman Catholic church before the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule and the switch from Catholicism to Calvinism. It is one of a number of artworks in the church surviving from the pre-Protestant period aimed at warning the congregation against drunkenness and general over-indulgence. Another startling example amongst the ancient misericords is of a befuddled human face with three eyes, two noses and one mouth. In this case, the 15th century artist probably intended to comment on the tendency of drunken people to agree with each other about everything. The original misericords in the Oude Kerk, now mixed with a few modern replacements, survived decades of religious turmoil and wilful damage to the church and its artistic treasures. The building was looted and defaced on several occasions, with the worst damage caused in 1566 by an iconoclastic mob who destroyed most of the art and fittings. Fortunately, the misericords and some pre-Reformation stained glass escaped unscathed. The Oude Kerk, in Ouderkerksplein, is Amsterdam’s oldest building. It is now a museum of architecture and art, although it still hosts Protestant Sunday services.
Size: 3053px × 2068px
Location: Oude Kerk, Ouderkerksplein, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1400s, 1480-1500, 15th, alcohol, ale, amsterdam, art, befuddled, carved, carving, century, choir, christian, christianity, church, circa, , dangers, doubly, drink, drinkers, drinking, drunk, drunkards, drunkenness, drunks, flagons, gothic, holland, inebriated, inebriation, influence, insobriety, intoxicated, intoxication, kerk, kerr, late, late-15th, medieval, misericord, misericords, netherlands, north, oude, ouderkerksplein, quaffing, relief, roof, sculpted, sculpture, seat, stall, style, tankards, terence, underside, warning, wood, wooden, woodwork, worse
