Dutch family in an interior

This painting shows a Dutch family of the mid-17th century in a light-filled interior. Its history is fascinating; it was originally thought to be the work of the Dutch artist Pieter Codde (1599-1678), who specialised in such paintings of interiors with many pictures on the walls. More recently it was bought by a New York picture dealer, who had the painting cleaned. The result was a transformation, revealing clearer light in the interior space. The walls, once crowded with pictures added by other hands, became the simple background you see now. More importantly, a letter in the foreground revealed a new signature (and date), indicating the real artist, Jan Olis, a painter who worked in Dordrecht, south of Rotterdam, in the 1630s. Olis is mentioned in the town's records as a wine merchant and this is perhaps why attention is focused on the glass of wine, the painting's central motif. It may be, therefore, that the picture shows the artist and his family and celebrates the trial of a vintage or a new import.