Artwork
Fortune Telling
Fortune Telling is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Jan Cossiers. It dates from 1630 and is held in the collection of the Hermitage Museum.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1630 by the Antwerp‑based Flemish artist Jan Cossiers, *Fortune Telling* is an oil painting that captures a moment of ordinary life. The work belongs to the early phase of Cossiers’s career, when he favored genre scenes that portrayed the everyday activities of the lower classes. It now forms part of the State Hermitage Museum’s collection.
Subject & Meaning
The composition shows a group of figures engaged in the practice of divination, a popular pastime among the urban poor of the 17th‑century Low Countries. By focusing on this modest, almost clandestine activity, the painting offers a glimpse into the social customs and superstitions that animated daily existence, inviting viewers to consider the intersection of belief and livelihood.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil on canvas, the piece demonstrates Cossiers’s early affinity for the dramatic lighting and naturalistic detail associated with Caravaggism.
Executed in oil on canvas, the piece demonstrates Cossiers’s early affinity for the dramatic lighting and naturalistic detail associated with Caravaggism. Strong contrasts of light and shadow model the figures, while a restrained palette emphasizes the earthy tones of the interior. The handling of color, for which Cossiers later earned a reputation, already hints at his skill in rendering textures and flesh.
History & Provenance
After its completion, the painting entered private collections before being acquired by the State Hermitage Museum, where it remains on display. The work’s provenance reflects the broader movement of Flemish Baroque art into Russian imperial collections during the 18th and 19th centuries, illustrating the international appeal of genre paintings from the Dutch‑Flemish tradition.
Context
*Fortune Telling* belongs to the Flemish Baroque period, a time when artists in Antwerp produced both grand religious commissions and intimate genre scenes. Cossiers, initially influenced by Caravaggio’s tenebrism, later turned to historical and biblical subjects, yet his early works retain a focus on the quotidian lives of the city’s lower strata, aligning him with contemporaries such as David Teniers the Younger.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Jan Cossiers (Antwerp, 15 July 1600 – Antwerp, 4 July 1671) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman.
