The Rafael Valls Sale, Part II

The Rafael Valls Sale, Part II

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 313. A peasant smoking a pipe.

Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade

A peasant smoking a pipe

Lot Closed

December 16, 02:18 PM GMT

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade

Haarlem 1610 - 1685

A peasant smoking a pipe


signed and dated centre right: AV Ostade / 1637

oil on panel

unframed: 15.1 x 13.6 cm.; 6 x 5⅜ in.;

framed: 25.4 x 23.9 cm.; 10 x 9⅜ in.

With F Kleinberger, Paris;
Baron Lansberg, Paris;
Baron August Janssen, Brussels, 1910;
Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 26 April 1927, lot 85, for Dfl. 500;
With Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam, by 1927;
Confiscated by the Nazi authorities, July 1940;
Recovered by the Allies, 1948;
In the custody of the Dutch Government;
Restituted to the Heirs of Jacques Goudstikker, 2006;
By whom sold ('Property from the collection of Jacques Goudstikker'), Amsterdam, Christie's, 14 November 2007, lot 14, for €19,588.

C. Hofstede de Groot, Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten Holländischen Maler des XVII Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart/ Paris 1907–28, III, no. 172;
W. Martin, Catalogue de la Collection de peintures du Baron Janssen, Brussels 1923, p. 126, no. 85;
C. Wright, Paintings in Dutch Museums. An Index of Oil Paintings in Public Collections in The Netherlands by Artists born before 1870, London 1980, p. 355, inv. no. NK 2168;
Old Master Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue, The Netherlandish Office for the Fine Arts, The Hague 1992, p. 232, no. 1998, reproduced.

This striking early work by Adriaen van Ostade is still very much embedded in the style and tradition of his teacher, Adriaen Brouwer (1606?–1638), whose humorous everyday genre scenes were much enjoyed by the Dutch middle-classes. Van Ostade achieves drama in such a simple composition by lighting the figure strongly from the left. His ability to capture the expression of the peasant so accurately with such a limited palette and a few cursory brushstrokes is evidence of his effortless skill, even at this early stage in his career.


The panel, which is signed and dated, has been extensively published and its attribution was supported by Dr Hiltraud Doll when it was sold at Christie's as part of the Jacques Goudstikker sale in 2007.1 A similar composition by van Ostade, of comparable scale and subject matter and dated to the same year, was sold at Sotheby's in 2021,2 and further examples can be found in the Rijksmuseum,3 and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.4


1 https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-5003194?ldp_breadcrumb=back&intObjectID=5003194&from=salessummary&lid=1

2 https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/master-paintings-part-ii/peasant-with-a-red-cap-and-holding-a-jug

3 https://rkd.nl/explore/images/25280

4 https://rkd.nl/explore/images/25282 and https://rkd.nl/explore/images/2528