_Hendrik Gerritsz Pot_ (Dutch: about 1600-1656).
The picture is signed HP (on the side of the projecting
chimney). Several pictures--chiefly conversation-pieces and
portraits (including one of Charles I. in the Louvre)--bear
these initials. They are supposed to belong to the above-named
artist, of whom it is recorded that he visited England and made
portraits of the king.
An ordinary scene of the kind, but there is a pleasant touch in the
little dog who furtively licks the hand of its half-tipsy master.