St Nicholas Eve
by BRAKENBURG, Richard, Oil on canvas, 49 x 65 cm
In this depiction of St Nicholas Eve, Richard Brakenburg showed how it was celebrated in the seventeenth century: without today’s Sinterklaas but with presents nevertheless. The saint was not always equally generous. One boy has a cane in his shoe. He cries as his sister gets her presents. St Nicholas Eve is still celebrated in the Netherlands on 5 December with the centuries’ old tradition of gift giving.