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Adriaen Van Ostade A Hurdy-Gurdy Player before a Farmhouse oil on oak panel 12 1/2"×10" (31.5 cm×25.4 cm) PROVENANCE: |
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LITERATURE: Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, Illustrated Catalog of the Sixth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters, 1900, no. 27, illustrated; Gustav Ritter Hoschek von Mühlheim Galeriekatalog, Aufgeführt und Besprochen vonMartin, 1907, no. 94, plate 94, illustrated NOTE: This painting was authenticated by Dr. Walther Bernt in a certificate dated Munich, April 9, 1972. We are grateful to both Dr. Bernhard Schnackenburg and Fred G. Meijer for confirming the painting as an authentic work by Adriaen van Ostade on the basis of transparencies. Both believe the date of 1638 to be too early for the work. Dr. Schnackenburg believes although the subject belongs to the earliest outdoor scenes by Ostade from the years before 1640, the execution appears to be a bit later, about 1650. Fred Meijer suggests a date in the early 1640’s. Adriaen van Ostade was the son of the weaver Jan Hendricx van Eyndhoven and Janneke Hendriksdr. There were eight children including his brother and pupil Isaack van Ostade (1621-1649). There is no documented evidence of his training, but according to Arnold Houbraken in De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen, (three volumes written in 1718–1721, which was the first comprehensive study of Netherlandish art since Carel van Mander published his Schilderboeckin 1604), Ostade was a pupil of Frans Hals (1581/5-1666). Houbraken also states that Adriaen Brouwer (16061638) was a pupil of Hals at about the same period. Brouwer, a Flemish painter of low-life and tavern scenes, lived in Haarlem until 1631. Whether this is the case or not, where there is no detectable influence from Hals, Brouwer’s strong effect on Ostade’s early work is undeniable. By 1632 Ostade was active as a painter, entering the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke by 1634. He was elected a hoofdman (leader) of the guild in 1647 and 1661 and made deken(dean) in 1662. He married twice, in 1638 and again in 1657. He painted a few history paintings and portraits, but was primarily regarded as a painter and etcher of peasant genre scenes. Besides his brother, Ostade’s pupils include Cornelis Bega (1631/21664), Cornelis Dusart (1660-1707), Michiel van Musscher (1645-1705) and Jan Steen (1625/6-1679). Ostade’s early paintings typically feature rustics in taverns and cottages, itinerant musicians or peddlers. Earlier works are also notable for a palette of earthy tonalities. The overriding impression of this painting is a warm brown color that ranges from dark brown to a lighter reddish brown. The pinks and grey-blue accents employed in the peasant’s garb blend harmoniously with the overall brown tonality of the composition, and again pay tribute to Brouwer’s art. The dramatic use of chiaroscuro in this work reflects the influence of Rembrandt. Peasant scenes set in the dooryard of a house begin appearing in the works of David Vinckboons (1576-1629) at the start of the seventeenth century and in Rembrandt’s etchings of the 1630’s. Adriaen as well as Isaack painted itinerant musicians, tradespeople, and travelers displaying their talents and wares to cottage dwellers. The Ostades are believed to be the first to paint the theme of idle interchanges between the itinerant and resident, and it was one which pretty much remained their own domain (1). ------- (1) William Robinson, “Isaack van Ostade”, exhibition Catalog Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Masters of Seventeenth Century Dutch Genre Painting, March 18-May 13, 1984, p. 291. |