Explore the Themes of this artwork, Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer.
In old Dutch a Kannekijker, someone looking into a mug, refers to a glutton, somebody greedy for more. This theme of seeing is also present in the painting, as one of the five senses, and various experts have argued about whether this portrait was meant as one in a series, along with Two Boys singing for hearing, and a variant version of The Smoker for smell:Hals has included an accomplice peering over the central figure's shoulder, and besides the other two paintings already mentioned, this theme of a main subject with a secondary witness was common to many of his paintings of the 1620s; for example:The theme of looking into a mug was also used by Hals when he painted the portrait of Peeckelhaeringh who turns to the viewer to show his mug.
Two Boys singing Peeckelhaeringh The Smoker five senses