Isack van Ostade Haarlem 1621 - 1649

Comte de Watteville;
His sale, Paris, 12 July 1779, for 1,200 Francs;
Marquis de Changran;
His sale, Paris, 21 February 1780, for 1,350 Livres;
Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746-1794), by whom probably bought in Paris in 1780;
Sparre inv., 1794, no. 12..

Stockholm, 1893, no. 76;
Kristianstad, 1977, no. 29. 

C. Blanc, Le Trésor de la Curiosité tirédes catalogued de vente..., Paris 1857-8, vol I, p. 454, vol.II, p. 4;
Granberg, 1885-6, no. 46;
Ny Illustrarad Tidning, 1893, p. 201, reproduced;
Göthe, 1895, p. 23, no. 50;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. III, London 1910, p. 477, no. 134;
Granberg, 1911-12, no. 517, reproduced plate 57;
Kjellberg, 1966, p. 346.
Hasselgren, 1974, pp. 113-4, 120, 121, 127, 132, reproduced p. 183.

"The following condition report has been provided by Sarah Walden, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is on an oak panel which is slightly thicker than average, briefly bevelled along the base and with one central joint. This has been reglued and retouched quite long ago, and was cradled apparently unnecessarily. This seems to have caused strains that are slightly visible in a raking light mainly on the left, where a fine crack runs down the middle of the left side for about six inches, not reaching the base or the top, and this is down the edge of the first vertical cradle bar. There is a slight incipient crack above it at the top edge, with another just to the right of the next cradle bar, with one other shorter (about two inches) slightly curving crack lower on the left, and one more coming up from the base (also about two inches long) just to the right of the central joint and also up the edge of a cradle bar. However these appear to be only as old as the cradle, and the panel seems to have been entirely stable had it not been for the cradling, which should be removed. There is no sign of flaking, but one small retouched old knock in the foreground to the right of the joint. The right base corner also has an old knock. Although the painting has a recent varnish there are still various old darkened retouchings from the same period presumably as the reglued joint and cradle. These are noticeable down the central joint where touches spread rather wider in the foreground, with a few others to the right on the roof of the inn and in the sky at the upper right corner. The roof and this patch of sky has sudden thinner streaks, while in general much of the painting is beautifully preserved. The extreme right edge is patchily worn with occasional darkened retouching, and there is a little also around the base of the door not far from the signature although that is untouched if slightly faint. The neckerchief of the innkeeper has been strengthened but he is otherwise in good unworn condition as are the lovely details in the right foreground, the vivid brushwork of the coq and the loose branch, with all the exuberant vegetation around the inn, which is splendidly rich and unleached. Further to the left in the foreground there seems to have been a pentiment with a dark underlayer re-emerging, and there is a little thinness in some of the browns in the middle distance, as in the dog, and the bucket, and slightly in the head of the boy, with some also in the background tree behind the inn. However all the lighter accents and details are fully intact, and the sky is beautifully preserved apart from the small patch mentioned above. Essentially the painting is in fine condition overall. This report was not done under laboratory conditions."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Isack van Ostade, younger than his brother Adriaen by eleven years, had a tragically short career, dying in 1649 at the age of only 28.  His early works are genre scenes stringkly influenced by his brother, and also somewhat by Rembrandt.  Around 1643, the year of his entry into the Haarlem Guild, his style changed rapidly.  He started to paint exterior scense which are, like the present work, half way between genre and landscape.  They often depict peasants outside farms or halted at inns, and his subjects are usually seen under a leaden sky, even when they are not specifically winter scenes.  His landscape settings have, as Schnackenburg observed, a monumental and atmospheric quality that can be easily recognised in the Sparre picture.¹  After 1646, Isack van Ostade tended to paint upright compositions with larger figures; this picture probably dates from the last three years of the artist's career.

We are grateful to Dr. Hiltraud Doll for her help in cataloguing this lot.  Dr. Doll will include it in her planned catalogue raisonné of Isack van Ostade's works.

Hasselgren noted that the Gerard Ter Borch now at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, was framed in a similar French rococo carved and gilt wood frame.²  Since Sparre bought both works in Paris in 1780, this should not surprise us.

1.  B. Schnackenburg, in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London 1996, vol. 23, p. 613.
2.  See under Literature, p. 114.