Isack van Ostade

With Otto Mündler, Paris;
M. de Caraman, Paris;
With Newhouse Galleries, from whom purchased by the Avery family;
The Estate of Mrs Ernestine R. Avery and the Estate of R. Stanton Avery (sold to benefit the R. Stanton Avery Foundation), New York, Christie's, 22 May 1998, lot 165, for $220,000.

The panel is uncradled and perfectly flat. The painting has fairly recently been cleaned and restored and is in very good overall condition. The paint surface is beautifully preserved with all brushstrokes clear and intact and some underdrawing visible. The only repair of note is a small 1 x 4 cm damage in the lower centre of the sky just above the twin church towers. Other restoration is confined to minor local spot retouchings in the sky and to the area around the horizon on the right hand side of the picture. The restoration is well carried out and the painting does not require further attention. the varnish remains clear and even. Offered with a stained wood frame in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Isack’s winter landscapes were a speciality of his repertoire, which consisted largely of rustic interiors and outdoor scenes. He painted wintry views from 1641 during a brief career that lasted only a decade until his death at the age of twenty-eight. Most, like the present work, are composed on a diagonal and adopt a low viewpoint across an expanse of ice. The white horse, which here features in the middle ground, was a favourite motif. The crisp lines in this fine example evoke the similar handling of his best drawings. An inferior version of this painting that repeats the principal elements of the composition in oval format was sold in these Rooms as circle of Isaac van Ostade.¹ This work, which is unrecorded in the literature, once belonged to the art historian Otto Mündler (1811–70), who acted as an agent for the National Gallery in London during the second half of the 1850s.  

1. Panel, 48 by 63.5 cm.; C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, London 1910, Vol. III, pp. 532–33, no. 285. London, Sotheby's, 15 December 1982, lot 79.