The Dutch genre painter and drawer Van Heemskerck was a pupil of Pieter de Grebber, painter of historic scenes, but he was strongly influenced by Jan Miese Molenaer. He probably knew the work of his famous contemporary Jan Steen too. In the 17th century Dutch realistic tradition Van Heemskerck painted and drew scenes taken from daily life. The harsh lives of the farmers in the country were not romanticized, this appeared later on, and the people who lived in towns were portrayed as foolish, bad mannered and immoderate. In 1675 he left for England where he lived in Oxford and London. He witnessed the rising of the ‘new prophets’ like George Fox. The Quakers’ colorful and common gatherings were one of Van Heemskerck’s favorite subjects.

An extraction at the barber’s

Right in the middle of a chaotic scene the barber puts his patient in a firm hold to extract a tooth. His pince-nez shows that we are dealing with a distinguished, wise man. In his flourishing practice wounded patients are waiting for some help. The boy on the left, falling down the stairs, will have to wait his turn. The half opened cupboards are full of pots, jars and bottles and on the table a glass of urine is waiting to be analyzed. The barber was a man of many professions and was held in high esteem by the naïve commoners. However, for the genre painters, who were usually quite critical, he was the subject of mild satire. Even when the barber executed his primary task of shaving, he was not mild-mannered as proven by the cramped pose of his customer on the left hand side of the painting.