Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (23.1982)

almost without excuse. They wcre often held in taverns rather than in private homes. Hence,
the owi symbolizing the two vices begins to appear in tavern scenes. It is usually placed in
rather inconspicuous places (a niche; a window sili, a dark corner), or it is drawn on a sheet
of paper lianging on the wali, as is the case of the painting by Arie de Vois showing a pipę smoker
with a jug of licpior in his right hand.

The association between the owi and alcohol was purposefully revealed in Frans van Mieris's
drawing of 1664, showing a drunken woman accompanied by an owi. The motif Was later repeated
in Hendrick Bary's copperplate bearing the biblical title De Wiin is een spotter (Wine is the Sco-
ffer), explaincd by the tetrastich placed underneath it (fig. 11):

Here Bary lends his hand to the great genius of Mieris
so the king's word may toucli the eyes and the ears
drunkenness is most often self-mocking
though its burdon wighs on others49.

The role of the owi is quite evident in Adrian Brouwer's tavern scenę (Warsaw, the National
Museum) in which it is presented beside a dead-drunk peasant. The presence of a pig eating

49. J. Sceperus, Bachus. Den Oudcn en huydendaegsckcn Dronckeman..., 1665:

Hicr lccnd Bary de handt aen Mieris groote gaest
dus kan het Konings woord 'tgesigt ais doren raken
de dronkenschap Lespot sig selven altyd meest
lioewel Z 'op anderen haar overlast will braken.

10. H. Aldegrever, Gula (from the Sins series), drawing (after Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunst-

geschichte, VI, Miinchen, 1973)

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