A Man's Breeches as the Object of Women's Affections: A Unique Painting by the Antwerp Genre Painter Hiëronymus Janssens (1624–1693).

This article aims to list the possible associations that the painting depicting seven women fighting for a man's trousers by the Antwerp genre painter Hiëronymus Janssens (1624–1692) may have raised in the minds of the seventeenth-century (Antwerp) audience, by pointing out noteworthy iconographic deviations in Janssens' representations of the theme, and discussing the familiarity of his Antwerp audience with this theme. In view of the visual and the cultural-historical tradition of the topic, various interpretations and representations of the theme are linked to Janssens' painting. It turns out that Janssens was not only inspired by the contemporary printing tradition, but also that he has mainly stressed the comical and erotic aspects of the topic. It is argued that Janssens' choice to depict this amorous/erotic topic fits within the scope of his œuvre. In general, the case study provides us with a beautiful example of the exchange of visual imagery between French prints and Southern Netherlandish genre painting in the seventeenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]