MMaxi Madeiraman

The Spendthrift

Title The Spendthrift', Act III, Scene V, from the play of the same name by Thomas Asselijn

Year 1741

Artist Cornelis Troost

Technique Oil on panel

Dimensions 68,5 x 86 cm


This tableau shows a scene from the farce 'The Spendthrift or the Wasteful Woman' written by Thomas Asselijn in 1693. Joanna, the woman in the white dress spends money like water, buying the most extravagant items. Her father and husband have disguised themselves as Polish Jewish traders. They plan to catch Joanna trying to sell her expensive clothes for a pittance. She intends to use the money to by new valuables. The eighteenth-century painter Cornelis Troost has turned this into a colourful scene.