Adriaen van Ostade | Christie's

Adriaen van Ostade

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Adriaen van Ostade

't Werck complet, van den vermaarde Schilder Adriaan van Ostade.. (B., Dut., God., Holl. 1-24, 24a, 25-27, 28 (also in reverse), 29-50, B; S.W. Pelletier, Print Quarterly, vol. XI, 1994, no. 4, pp. 395-401)

etchings, 1647-71, on laid paper, the calligraphic title-page in Dutch and French, the complete set of 52 plates, and a portrait of Adriaen van Ostade, by J. Gole (Holl. 103), mezzotint, the mezzotint with small to thread margins all round, the etchings printed one, two, four or six to a sheet, probably from the very rare edition of about 1800, published by 'La Veuve Jean', Paris, with margins, deckle edges at the bottom, Holl. 103 mounted to a later flyleaf on all four reverse sheet corners, the title page with a repaired tear in the lower margin, one leaf with a small loss in a centre margin, a few small tears and scuffs at the sheet edges, occasional foxing and some surface dirt mainly in the margins, otherwise generally in good condition, bound in 19th Century patterned paper boards with calligraphic title on front, edged in vellum, with title on spine, slight scuffing at the corners, generally in good condition, overall S. 472 x 325mm.; and duplicates of Holl. 1 and 2 tipped in(album)

Lot Essay

According to S.W. Pelletier in 'Van Ostade's Etchings published by 'La Veuve Jean'' in Print Quarterly, vol. XI, 1994, no. 4, the 'La Veuve Jean' edition of Van Ostade's prints is extremely rare. He is not aware of a complete copy in any public collection.The edition as published by 'La Veuve Jean' clearly distinguishes itself from the earlier Basan copies by leaving out the apocryphal piece of 'A Woman catching Fleas', and containing copies of Holl. 1 and 2.
The present edition has been rebound. Its sequence of the pages does not follow the edition as described by Pelletier. Curiously, in the present copy the prints of The pissing Peasant (Holl. B), and The Peasant's Quarrel (Holl. 18) are not printed on one page and The hunchbacked Fiddler (Holl. 44) and The Dance under the Trellis (Holl. 47) on another, as in Pelletier's edition. In fact, the present copy shows The hunchbacked Fiddler together with The Peasant's Quarrel.

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