Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade Haarlem 1610 - 1685

Note: for Hofstede Groot, see under Literature.
Lapeyrière, Receveur Général des Contributions, Paris;
His sale, Paris, Henry, Lacoste, 19-29 April 1825, for 4,205 Francs;
Galerie Boursault, Paris;
  Possibly his sale, Paris, Paillet, 7ff May 1832;
  But probably sold with the bulk of the Boursault collection by Henry Artaria in 1835 to
Edmund Higginson, Saltmarshe Castle, Herefordshire, by 1842;
His sale, London, Christie's, 4-6 June 1846, lot 193, for £147 to Emery (all the above as Hofstede de Groot no. 268; at Saltmarshe also as Hofstede de Groot no. 742c);
Possibly G.H. Morland, London;
  His sale, London, Christie's, 9 May 1863, for £141. 15s to Pearse (Hofstede de Groot no. 480a);
Possibly Wynn Ellis, London;
  His sale, London, Christie's, 27 May 1876, lot 62, for £236 5s(Hofstede de Groot no. 742c);
Baron E. de Beurnonville;
His sale, Paris, Pillet, 9 May 1881, lot 403, for 11,500 Francs to A. de Castro (Hofstede de Groot no. 271a);
Possibly with Gebr. Douwes, Amsterdam;
Possibly A.F. Philips, New York (bears a New York storage label on the frame), and perhaps given by him to
F.J. Philips, Eindhoven;
Thence by descent.

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. I, London 1829, p. 154, no. 171;
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Gallery of Pictures collected by Edmund Higginson, Esq., of Saltmarshe, London 1842, p. 42, no. 103;
J. Smith, Supplement to the Catalogue Raisonné..., London 1849, p. 118, no. 130;
Possibly G. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, vol. II, London 1854, p. 296;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné.., vol III, London 1910, pp. 222-3, nos. 268, 271a, and possibly pp. 289, 369, nos. 480a, 742c.

Two peasants sit at a rough table, one smoking a pipe, the other holding a jug in one hand and playing cards in the other.  Between them, on the other side of the table is a child, and beyond its mother, bending and cooking in a fireplace.  In the late 1640s and 1650s Ostade often used this compositional type, in which the action takes place as if on a stage in the corner of a room, with a large chimney-piece as a backdrop, defining the space and framing the figures.  This formula is to be found in many of his paintings and drawings at this time, but rarely after the late 1660s, when other types of peasant interiors, such as the one with seated figures lit by a large window from the left, take over.  In some of these pictures domestic order and family life is the subject, while others depict male peasants drinking and smoking as if in a borrel, but the present picture seamlessly combines these types, and artlessly denies any attempt to impose a moralizing interpretation.

We are grateful to Dr. Hiltraud Doll, who was unaware of this picture until recently, for helping to untangle the provenance, and for confirming on the basis of transparencies that it is a typical work of 1649.  She will include it in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the works of Adriaen and Isack van Ostade as no. 114a. 

Provenance and Literature
As is often the case with paintings by Ostade, this picture occurs under three and possibly four numbers in Hofstede de Groot's catalogue raisonné (see under Literature), leading to some confusion over provenance.  It is almost certainly the picture recorded in the Lapeyrière, Boursault and Higginson collections: Hofstede de Groot nos. 268 & 271a; which the author states are likely to be one and the same (under no. 271a the date is wrongly given as 1659).  It is listed again under Hofstede de Groot no. 742c, as in the Higginson collection, and as later in the Wynn Ellis collection, where seen by Gustav Waagen, and subsequently in the Wynn Ellis sale.  It does not however closely match Waagen's description of either of the two Ostades he saw there, and the measurements appear to be too small.  Finally, it may also have been the picture listed by Hofstede de Groot as no. 280a on the basis of the brief description in the Morland sale catalogue, but without mention of signature, date or measurements: Two peasants and a child sit at a table. At the back a woman is by the fireside.