Village Romance

This is a posthumous impression

Condition description continued

There is a ¾” vertical tear at upper left corner that has been mended from rear. There is a ¼” vertical tear at lower center. Hinge remnants are on verso at upper left and upper right.

(1610-1685, Dutch) (Credited as a painter, engraver and draughtsman who composed genre and village scenes as well as interiors with figures, landscapes particularly winter landscapes as well as portraits, Adriaen Jansz van Ostade adopted his family’s native village as his surname. Van Ostade and another artist Brouwer were part of Frans Hals’ studio.

 A resident of Haarlem all his life, van Ostade made frequent trips to Amsterdam. According to coverage of the artist in Benezit’s Dictionary of Artists, his work was divided into three distinct periods: his early work, extending up into the end of the 1640’s; his middle period, dating from 1650 during which time his best work was generated; and his final production between 1670 and 1684. That said, his work was thoroughly influenced by his exposure to Rembrandt’s preference for lighting his subjects. 

 The inventory counted by Hofstede de Groot encompasses more than 900 works, many of these are housed in major museums.  More than 50 etchings were described in Louis Godefoy’s publication The Engraved Work of Adriaen van Ostade (Paris, 1930).