David Teniers the Younger was a Flemish artist born in Antwerp. He was the more celebrated son of David Teniers the Elder, almost ranking in celebrity with Rubens and Van Dyke. His son David Teniers III, and his grandson David Teniers IV, were also painters. His wife Anna was the daughter of Jan Brueghel the Elder. Admitted as a Master in the Guild of St Luke,1632, Teniers had even before this made the public acquainted with his works. The Berlin Museum possesses a group of ladies and gentlemen dated 1630. No special signature positively distinguishes these first productions from those of his father. His villagers drink, play bowls, dance and sing; they seldom quarrel or fight, and, if they do, seem to be shamming. This much may be said of Teniers, that no painter shows a more enviable ability to render a conception to his own and other peoples satisfaction. His works have a technical freshness, a straightforwardness as means and intent, which make the study of them most delightful; as Sir Joshua Reynolds says, they are worthy of the closest attention of any painter who desires to excel in the mechanical knowledge if his art.