Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade Haarlem 1610 - 1685, and Isack van Ostade Haarlem 1621-1649

Sir Paul Methuen, London, until 1757:
By inheritance to his cousin Paul Methuen (d. 1795), Grosvenor Street, London, where hanging in the First Parlour;
Paul Cobb Methuen (d. 1816), Corsham Court;
Sir Paul Methuen (d. 1835), Corsham Court;
With C.J. Nieuwenhuys, 1835-1844;
Robert Holford (1808-1892), M.P., Russell Square, London, by 1845, and after 1854 at Park Lane, London;
Thence by inheritance there and at Westonbirt, Gloucestershire, to his son Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926);
His deceased sale, London, Christie's, 17 May 1928, lot 28 (as by Adriaen van Ostade), for £3,675 to Warden;
Mrs. Cecile Warden (possibly a pseudonym), from 1928 to 1935 (seen in Lausanne, 2nd February 1933 with Roland Angebres, possibly for sale);
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 7 December 1933, lot 116 (withdrawn);
With Daniel and Nathan Katz, Dieren, and Schaeffer Gallery, New York, 1936;
J.M.B. Beuker, Utrechtsestraat 96, Heelsum, The Netherlands, acquired in 1936;
Possibly by inheritance to his widow, Mrs. J.C. Beuker (née De Kruyff van Dorssen), but in Beuker possession until March 1963;
Possibly with A. Martin de Wild, The Hague, by whom restored and cradled;
Hans Kohn, Wassenaar, by whom acquired in April 1963;
From whom acquired directly by the present owner in October 1972.

London, British Institution, 1835, no. 71, as 'Isaac van Ostade', (lent by Paul Methuen);
London, British Institution, 1845, no. 54, as 'Isaac van Ostade', (lent by R.S. Holford);
London, British Institution, 1852, no. 21, as 'Isaac van Ostade' (lent by R.S. Holford);
Manchester, Art Treasures Exhibition, 1857, no. 1011, as 'Isaac van Ostade' (lent by R.S. Holford), the label affixed to the reverse;
London, British Institution, 1867, no. 56, as 'Isaac van Ostade' (lent by R.S. Holford);
London, Burlington House, 1887, no. 67, as Landscape by Adriaen van Ostade, with figures by Isaac van Ostade (lent by R.S. Holford);
London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1900, no. 5, as Adriaen van Ostade (lent by Captain Holford);
Nijmegen, Huize Belvoir, Tentoonstelling van 16e en 17e eeuwsche Hollandsche, Vlaamsche en Italiaansche schilderijen en antiquiteiten uit de collectie van Fa. D. Katz te Dieren, 15 July - 1 September 1936, no. 43, as Adriaen van Ostade;
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans, Meesterwerken uit Vier Eeuwen 1400-1800, 25 June - 15 October 1938, no. 111, reproduced in the commemorative catalogue as plate 68, as Adriaen van Ostade (lent by J.M.B. Beuker);
Rotterdam, Museum Boymans, Kunstschatten uit Nederlandse Verzamelingen, 19 June - 25 September 1955, no. 94, as Adriaen van Ostade (lent by J.M.B. Beuker);
The Hague, Mauritshuis, 1971-3, on loan from Hans Kohn.

T. Martyn, The English connoisseur, containing an account of whatever is curious in Painting in the palaces and seats of the nobility and principal gentry of England..., London 1766, vol. I, pp. 31f & vol. II, p. 21 (as in the Methuen collection)
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. I, London 1829, pp. 189-90, no. 43 (as by 'Isaac van Ostade' and valued at 500 Guineas);
G.F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, London 1838, vol. III, pp. 105ff;
G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in in Great Britain, London 1854, vol. II, p. 201 (as by 'Isaac van Ostade, but strongly reminiscent of Adriaen in parts');
G.F. Waagen, A walk through the Art Treasures at Manchester, London 1857, p. 34, no. 1011;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. III, London 1910, pp. 273-4, no. 434 (as by Adriaen van Ostade: "A good picture, in the style of Isack, but unquestionably the work of Adriaen van Ostade");
A. von Wurzbach, Niederländisches Kunstler-Lexikon, vol. II, Vienna & Leipzig 1910, p. 288;
F. Simpson, `The English Connoisseur and its sources', in The Burlington Magazine, vol. XCIII, December 1910, p. 355;
A. Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, vol. II, London 1913, pp. 891-894;
W. von Bode, Rembrandt und seine Zeitgenossen, Leipzig 1923, p. 132;
[R. Benson], The Holford Collection, London 1924, no. 160, vol. II, p. 34, no. 160, reproduced plate CXLV (as by Adriaen and Isack van Ostade);
T. Borenius, `Die Holford Collection', in Pantheon, April 1928, pp. 222-3, and June 1928, pp. 367-8;
W. Gibson, in Apollo, VII, 1928, p. 199;
Christie's Season 1927-8, London 1928, pp. 9, 14, 19-22, 28, reproduced p. 15;
G. Reitlinger, The Economies of Taste, London 1961, pp. 202, 404;
L. de Vries, Beknopte Catalogus van de Schilderijen Beeldhouwerken en Miniaturen, Mauritshuis, The Hague 1971, p. 109, no. 1041.

ENGRAVED
By P.C. Canot, 1771.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar, who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's. UNCONDITIONAL AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE Structural Condition The artist's panel has been cradled and this is ensuring an even and secure structural support and has successfully secured various splits in the large panel. Paint Surface The paint surface has a slightly uneven varnish layer and revarnishing would be beneficial. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows a number of obviously carefully applied retouchings, the most significant of which are, 1) two very thin horizontal lines running through the wall of the cottage in the centre of the composition above the man seated on the grey horse, 2) a number of horizontal lines of retouching in the sky on the left side of the composition which would seem to be covering horizontal cracks of fractures in the panel and surrounding paint losses, 3) very small scattered spots and lines of inpainting in the foreground and in the details of the travellers and various figures including some strengthening of the horse's legs and the outlines of the various details in the foreground. It should be noted that the figures themselves and the surrounding details all appear to be in very good condition with minimal inpainting and little evidence of any over-cleaning or abrasion. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good and stable condition and the only work that might be required would be revarnishing to ensure an even surface coating.
"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."

This is a rare, and probably unique, collaborative work between the Ostade brothers, Adriaen and Isack.¹  The overall composition, the landscape and most of the architecture, and the figures in the left-hand half of the picture are by Isack van Ostade, and the multiple figure-group outside the nearer of the two inn buildings to the right is by Adriaen.  In the 19th century it was exhibited as by one or the other artist until 1887, when it was described as by both. Gustav Waagen listed it as by Isack van Ostade, but nearly reached the truth in his Letter XVII recording his visit to the recently-formed Holford collection, in which he wrote: "I know of no picture by this master in which he has so nearly approached his brother in the reddish golden tone of the flesh and in the character of the figures".²

Isack van Ostade's landscapes are almost always seen under lowering grey cloudy skies, even when they are not set in winter.  He favoured strong diagonals receding to the left as the basic compositional framework for most of his exterior scenes, many of which include figures halted at an inn to the right of the composition.  A good example is the Halt at the Inn of 1646 from the Henle Collection sold in these Rooms on 3rd December 1997, lot 18 (for £2.2 million; see fig. 1). The range of inn buildings in the present work finds a closer parallel in an upright composition dated 1649 in the Collection of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres.³  In both pictures figures are grouped outside a thatched inn with its gable end-on above the entrance, the wall covered in rough plaster, while a much larger structure rears up beyond it and to the left, with a raised platform beyond. On grounds of style, this painting can be dated to the late 1640s, probably not long before Isack's early death in 1649.

The style of the figure-group to the right is also typical of Adriaen van Ostade's work of the 1650s, although it would be fair to say that after his early work, when his figures are more raucous and roughly drawn, his figural style evolved relatively slowly. Thus while the staffage in the present work is comparable with his Merry Company outside an Inn of 1648 in Kassel, it is not markedly different from the larger figures in his later works, such as the Peasants carousing outside an Inn of 1660 (sold in these Rooms, 8  December 2004, lot 24, for £3.14 million; see fig. 2).  The principal difference between his works of the late 1640s and those of a decade or more later are in the increasingly lighter tone and higher colour key that he adopted during the 1650s, and a greater concern for taught draughtsmanship.  Dr Hiltraud Doll however thinks that Adriaen van Ostade's contribution to this picture post-dates the death of Isack, whose picture he re-worked or completed in the late 1650s.⁴  It seems likely that, as Frits Duparc has suggested, the panel was left unfinshed at Isack's death, and completed by his brother at some point subsequently.⁵

Figures at ease outside country buildings - often inns - form a substantial part of Adriaen van Ostade's etched oeuvre. The central figure group outside the door of the inn: a standing musician, a boy with his back turned to the viewer, and a seated peasant with legs splayed; are comparable with Ostade's etching of The Wandering Musicians, which is undated but was most likely done in the first half of the 1650s (see fig. 3).⁶

Adriaen van Ostade's own depictions of outdoor inn scenes of this type are rare.  A good example however, dated 1648, is in Kassel, Staatliche Museen.  It is completely different in character to the present work, with none of the brooding atmosphere that is so palpable here.  Its overall tone is much lighter, and a predominantly blue sky against which Ruysdael-like trees are silhouetted.  It is more linear in the brushwork in the architecture.⁷

Please note that Drs. Fred G. Meijer is of the opinion that the present work is entirely the work of Adriaen van Ostade.

We are grateful to Dr Hiltraud Doll for her help in cataloguing this picture.  It will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Adriaen van Ostade's paintings as no. 217, reproduced fig. 217. 

The support is an unusually large single plank of oak.  The reverse was cradled by A. Martin de Wild in The Hague, whose stamp appears on a cross-bar.

PROVENANCE
This painting has an unbroken provenance stretching back to the mid-18th Century.  For eighty years or so it was in the collection formed by Paul Methuen in London, and remained in the possession of his heirs at Corsham Court in Wiltshire until circa 1835 or shortly after. 

Robert Holford started collecting as a young man, and amassed an outstanding collection of Old Master Paintings of all schools, as well as Illuminated Manuscripts. They were initially housed in Sir Thomas Lawrence's former home in Russell Square before moving to a gallery designed for them in Park Lane.  Some pictures - it is not clear which - were later taken to Holford's house at Westonbirt in Gloucestershire.  Both Robert Holford and his son George were generous lenders to exhibitions.  The Holfords were a long-lived family: just two generations of Holford ownership of this picture spanned over eighty years.

A. Martin de Wild (1899-1969) in The Hague handled the sale of several other paintings from the collection of J.M.B. Beuker, including a winter landscape by Hendrick Avercamp acquired through him from Beuker's widow by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in 1967.⁸  The Avercamp had also been acquired by Beuker from the firm of Katz in Dieren, and lent to the Rotterdam exhibition in 1938.  Beuker, a Protestant, was the Director of a paper mill.  The Beukers were listed among those evacuated in September 1944 by the Dutch Red Cross to the Concertgebouw in Barneveld following the Allied parachute landings at Arnhem.

Dendrochronology
A tree-ring analysis of the panel conducted by Ian Tyers of Dendrochronological Consultancy Limited is available on request.  The exceptionally wide single plank from which the panel is formed is from an oak tree still growing in 1580, the date of the outermost tree ring, and thus plausibly felled after circa 1588.  Such a wide board must have come from a stag-headed oak pollard or similar rather than a tree growing conventionally.  It is from the Netherlands or adjacent regions of Germany.  Given the distorted curves of the grain, it is however quite likely that additional heartwood rings were trimmed from the plank along the bottom edge to make it even, and therefore the felling date could well have been some years later.

X-ray images and digital infra-red photography conducted by Art Access Research are visible here and are available from the department.

X-Ray
The X-ray image is hard to read because of the heavy cradling of the reverse.  It is clear however that this panel did not have an earlier use as a support for another painting.  The distorted curves of the grain of the panel are clearly visible.  Also to be noted is that Isack van Ostade painted the central section of the sky to the left with lighter clouds as lower down, and painted the lowering grey clouds above the figures raised up on the terrace at a later stage, perhaps when he added the tree.

Digital Infra-red Photography
The IRR image reveals pentimenti, most prominently in the right foreground, where a barrel was painted out.   Penumbra round the legs and feet of the right foreground figures suggests that Adriaen van Ostade may have reworked the ground in the foreground to enhance the lighting of this area, so as to direct more light onto his figures.  A comparable effect may be seen around their heads, in particular of the woman standing to the right, and it may be the case that Adriaen van Ostade strengthened the lighting of the plaster wall of the inn for the same reason.  The IRR image reveals more clearly the brushwork in the sky.

1.  It is included as such in Dr. Hiltraud Doll's doctoral dissertation including a catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Adriaen and Isack van Ostade.
2.  See under literature.
3. See B. Schnackenburg, Adriaen van Ostade, Isack van Ostade, Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Hamburg 1981, vol. I, reproduced p. 275, fig. 61.
4.  In the course of a discussion of the painting and its dating.
5.  In the course of a telephone discussion.
6.  See for example L.J. Slatkes, in P. van der Coelen ed., Everyday Life in Holland's Golden Age. The complete Etchings of Adriaen van Ostade, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam 1998, p. 142, no. 38, reproduced. This etching has been dated as early as 1642, but Slatkes dates it circa 1654.
7.  See B. Schnackenburg, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.  Gesamtkatalog, Mainz 1996, p. 211, no. GK 275, reproduced in colour p. 199 (& vol. 2, plate 139).
8.  See A.K. Wheelock, Jr., Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century.  The Collections of the National Gallery of Art, New York & Oxford 1995, pp. 9-10, no. 1967.3.1.