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Lot Essay
This little-known and beautifully preserved panel by Adriaen van Ostade, one of the preeminent genre painters in seventeenth-century Holland, is appearing on the international art market for the first time in more than a century and is one of the finest paintings by the artist to appear at auction in recent decades. Ostade is recorded as having studied with Frans Hals in Haarlem, reputedly alongside Adriaen Brouwer, with whom Ostade’s early work shares much in common. It is, however, in Ostade’s later work, particularly in his scenes of inns and taverns, that he achieved his greatest triumphs. The artist’s early biographer, Arnold Houbraken, famously enthused that it was in such works ‘complete with their trappings, which he was capable of representing as cleverly and realistically as anyone ever did,’ and continued by noting how Ostade’s figures were ‘so naturally peasant-like and witty that it is astonishing how he was able to contrive it’ (A. Houbraken, De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen, I, Amsterdam, 1718, pp. 347-348).
By the time Ostade executed this painting in 1658, various new trends had begun to percolate in his work. Beginning in the mid-1640s and continuing into the early 1650s, he had begun to abandon his early, broadly brushed and earthen-toned raucous – often satirical – interior scenes in favor of a smoother, more delicate approach to modeling that would come to resemble the work of the Leiden fijnschilders (‘fine painters’). By the end of the 1650s, his figures became more convincingly posed, solidly modeled and wear brightly colored clothing, while his scenes were increasingly set outdoors, illuminated by the warm light of a bright Dutch day. The artist’s growing refinement is particularly evident in the Rothschild painting through the careful observation of details like the ivy covering the tavern’s trellis, the maid’s white chemise, the wicker birdcage, the barnyard fowl and the characterful expressions and gestures of the figures, which imbue them with an eloquent individuality.
These changes were part of Ostade’s increasingly sympathetic approach to these modest subjects. Scenes of excessive drinking and gambling became the exception rather than the rule in his work. Rather than overindulging, Ostade’s peasants instead appear to relish the small pleasures permitted by their ordinary existence. This shift may well reflect a change in the implicit meaning of these pictures. Ostade balances the traditional satire of human frailty with the simplicity of peasant life, which is now held up as a model.
The compositions of Ostade’s exterior scenes are typically arranged along a receding diagonal. Adriaen may have adopted this compositional schema from his younger brother, Isack, who had developed the idea to great effect in his own compositions of the latter 1640s. But while Isack tended to distribute his figures along the diagonal recession, Adriaen focused his brush on a tightly arranged group around a table or barrel before an inn in the painting’s foreground. Here, five male figures revel around just such a barrel while a tavern maid turns after having filled the group’s pasglas, a tall beer glass with horizontal stripes used for drinking games. The bemused, slightly vacant expressions of the two rightmost figures holding long clay pipes may well allude to contemporary proscriptions against the recreational use of tobacco, which was seen to have the same intoxicating qualities as alcohol. So it was that in 1636 the Dordrecht physician Johann van Beverwijck recommended in his Schat der Gesontheyt (Treasury of Health) that only those who were ‘strong’ with ‘wet and moist’ temperaments smoke – and even then only in the morning and on an empty stomach. Two further figures whose actions are partially shielded by the waitress are probably playing a board or card game, perhaps an allusion to the fickleness of fortune, while a fifth man nods off against the wall of the inn as if succumbing to his inebriation. None of these figures shows the slightest awareness of the painting’s viewer, but a young child at left casts a knowing outward glance while pointing to the open cellar, as if directing the viewer to the source of the group’s intoxication. Ostade cleverly contrasts the collective indigence of this group with the discreet inclusion of a humble family of three pausing from their daily tasks in the painting’s background.
While the earliest owner of this painting is unknown, Ostade’s works were much in demand between 1640 and 1680. In a study of Haarlem inventories undertaken by Pieter Biesboer, only the works of the genre painters Jan Miense Molenaer (83) and Ostade’s pupil Cornelis Dusart (160) were more frequently encountered than works by Ostade himself (58). In terms of value, only Dusart, (Jan or Jan Baptist) Weenix and Philips Wouwerman had works that were more expensive than those by Ostade (see P. Biesboer, Collections of Paintings in Haarlem, 1572-1745, C. Togneri, ed., Los Angeles, 2001, p. 37). The high social status of Ostade’s patrons, many of whom appear to have been drawn from Haarlem’s industrial and civic elite, may shed some light on contemporary responses to these paintings. Much like the knowing child in Ostade’s painting, his well-to-do patrons were ‘in’ on the artist’s message, one they were able to gather from a safe distance beyond the painting’s picture plane and within the comfort of their own homes.
Much like many of Ostade’s finest works, this painting has illustrious early provenance. Its first certain owner was Gerrit Braamcamp, for whom it was acquired by the leading Amsterdam dealer Pieter Yver for the substantial price of 1,650 guilders at an anonymous sale held in Leiden in 1765. When the painting appeared as part of Braamcamp’s estate sale in 1771, the cataloguer rightly noted how ‘The landscape is clear, & of a great finish; & the figures are superiorly colored & of great effect’. The tremendous quality of Braamcamp’s collection did not go unnoticed among Europe’s leading collectors: Catherine the Great acquired masterpieces by Gerrit Dou (including his triptych entitled The Nursery), Gabriel Metsu, Paulus Potter, Gerard ter Borch and Philips Wouwerman, all of which unfortunately were lost in transit when the Vrouw Maria, the ship onto which they were loaded, sank off the coast of Finland.
The painting next passed to the politician and wealthy collector Pieter de Smeth van Alphen, whose formidable collection included such masterpieces as Rembrandt’s ‘The Shipbuilder and his Wife’: Jan Rijcksen and his wife, Griet Jans (1633; Royal Collection Trust), Johannes Vermeer’s Girl interrupted at her music (c. 1658-59; The Frick Collection, New York) and Ostade’s The fishwife (1672; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Shortly thereafter, it entered the Leuchtenberg Collection. It was there that the painting was engraved by Philipp Heinel for Johann David Passavant’s 1851 collection catalogue (fig. 1). The painting remained in the Leuchtenberg Collection until the early twentieth century, after which it was acquired by the family of the present owners.
By the time Ostade executed this painting in 1658, various new trends had begun to percolate in his work. Beginning in the mid-1640s and continuing into the early 1650s, he had begun to abandon his early, broadly brushed and earthen-toned raucous – often satirical – interior scenes in favor of a smoother, more delicate approach to modeling that would come to resemble the work of the Leiden fijnschilders (‘fine painters’). By the end of the 1650s, his figures became more convincingly posed, solidly modeled and wear brightly colored clothing, while his scenes were increasingly set outdoors, illuminated by the warm light of a bright Dutch day. The artist’s growing refinement is particularly evident in the Rothschild painting through the careful observation of details like the ivy covering the tavern’s trellis, the maid’s white chemise, the wicker birdcage, the barnyard fowl and the characterful expressions and gestures of the figures, which imbue them with an eloquent individuality.
These changes were part of Ostade’s increasingly sympathetic approach to these modest subjects. Scenes of excessive drinking and gambling became the exception rather than the rule in his work. Rather than overindulging, Ostade’s peasants instead appear to relish the small pleasures permitted by their ordinary existence. This shift may well reflect a change in the implicit meaning of these pictures. Ostade balances the traditional satire of human frailty with the simplicity of peasant life, which is now held up as a model.
The compositions of Ostade’s exterior scenes are typically arranged along a receding diagonal. Adriaen may have adopted this compositional schema from his younger brother, Isack, who had developed the idea to great effect in his own compositions of the latter 1640s. But while Isack tended to distribute his figures along the diagonal recession, Adriaen focused his brush on a tightly arranged group around a table or barrel before an inn in the painting’s foreground. Here, five male figures revel around just such a barrel while a tavern maid turns after having filled the group’s pasglas, a tall beer glass with horizontal stripes used for drinking games. The bemused, slightly vacant expressions of the two rightmost figures holding long clay pipes may well allude to contemporary proscriptions against the recreational use of tobacco, which was seen to have the same intoxicating qualities as alcohol. So it was that in 1636 the Dordrecht physician Johann van Beverwijck recommended in his Schat der Gesontheyt (Treasury of Health) that only those who were ‘strong’ with ‘wet and moist’ temperaments smoke – and even then only in the morning and on an empty stomach. Two further figures whose actions are partially shielded by the waitress are probably playing a board or card game, perhaps an allusion to the fickleness of fortune, while a fifth man nods off against the wall of the inn as if succumbing to his inebriation. None of these figures shows the slightest awareness of the painting’s viewer, but a young child at left casts a knowing outward glance while pointing to the open cellar, as if directing the viewer to the source of the group’s intoxication. Ostade cleverly contrasts the collective indigence of this group with the discreet inclusion of a humble family of three pausing from their daily tasks in the painting’s background.
While the earliest owner of this painting is unknown, Ostade’s works were much in demand between 1640 and 1680. In a study of Haarlem inventories undertaken by Pieter Biesboer, only the works of the genre painters Jan Miense Molenaer (83) and Ostade’s pupil Cornelis Dusart (160) were more frequently encountered than works by Ostade himself (58). In terms of value, only Dusart, (Jan or Jan Baptist) Weenix and Philips Wouwerman had works that were more expensive than those by Ostade (see P. Biesboer, Collections of Paintings in Haarlem, 1572-1745, C. Togneri, ed., Los Angeles, 2001, p. 37). The high social status of Ostade’s patrons, many of whom appear to have been drawn from Haarlem’s industrial and civic elite, may shed some light on contemporary responses to these paintings. Much like the knowing child in Ostade’s painting, his well-to-do patrons were ‘in’ on the artist’s message, one they were able to gather from a safe distance beyond the painting’s picture plane and within the comfort of their own homes.
Much like many of Ostade’s finest works, this painting has illustrious early provenance. Its first certain owner was Gerrit Braamcamp, for whom it was acquired by the leading Amsterdam dealer Pieter Yver for the substantial price of 1,650 guilders at an anonymous sale held in Leiden in 1765. When the painting appeared as part of Braamcamp’s estate sale in 1771, the cataloguer rightly noted how ‘The landscape is clear, & of a great finish; & the figures are superiorly colored & of great effect’. The tremendous quality of Braamcamp’s collection did not go unnoticed among Europe’s leading collectors: Catherine the Great acquired masterpieces by Gerrit Dou (including his triptych entitled The Nursery), Gabriel Metsu, Paulus Potter, Gerard ter Borch and Philips Wouwerman, all of which unfortunately were lost in transit when the Vrouw Maria, the ship onto which they were loaded, sank off the coast of Finland.
The painting next passed to the politician and wealthy collector Pieter de Smeth van Alphen, whose formidable collection included such masterpieces as Rembrandt’s ‘The Shipbuilder and his Wife’: Jan Rijcksen and his wife, Griet Jans (1633; Royal Collection Trust), Johannes Vermeer’s Girl interrupted at her music (c. 1658-59; The Frick Collection, New York) and Ostade’s The fishwife (1672; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Shortly thereafter, it entered the Leuchtenberg Collection. It was there that the painting was engraved by Philipp Heinel for Johann David Passavant’s 1851 collection catalogue (fig. 1). The painting remained in the Leuchtenberg Collection until the early twentieth century, after which it was acquired by the family of the present owners.