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Lot Essay
A frozen river landscape with woodsmen felling trees includes many of the same motifs that appear in other of Isack van Ostade's winter scenes, among them the horse-drawn sledge on the frozen river in the distance at the right and the dovecote dusted with snow at the left. The felling of trees, however, is an unusual subject and the obvious strain of the physical effort against a bleak winter sky creates a wholly different effect from scenes of villagers enjoying the winter weather. One tree has already been cut down and a figure at the right pulls with all of his weight on the rope that is wound around the second tree trunk. Another man stands on a ladder leaning against the third in order to begin removing its branches. The specificity with which Ostade depicts the process of tree felling suggests his firsthand observation of the activity but none of his known figure studies relates directly to our painting. In fact, although his figure studies depict almost exclusively members of the working classes, very few of them relate to physical labour at all, with only one exception, a drawing of two men operating a saw (Paris, Louvre). Most of his drawings relate to tavern scenes, dances, and aspects of rural life apart from physical labour.
Isack's first dated winter landscape is from 1639 (his latest is dated 1647) and he seems to have specialized in the subject from around 1642. His earliest winter scenes were painted in a darker, more tonal palette and with free, painterly brushwork reminiscent of the works of Jan van Goyen. We are grateful to Dr. Bernhard Schnackenburg, who has confirmed the attribution of A frozen river landscape with woodsmen felling trees on the basis of photographs to Isack van Ostade, and has suggested that it is a later work, executed after 1645 (private correspondence). It reflects the lighter palette, more exacting touch, and strong local colour characteristic of his later works. Indeed, the composition is similar to that of A frozen canal with skaters, painted between 1644 and 1647 (Paris, Louvre). Both scenes are constructed around the diagonal wedge of the foreground at the left with a distant view across the river at the right, but the carefree skaters and sledges in the Paris painting have been replaced in the present picture with the intensity of men engaged in dangerous work. Given that Isack was only active as a painter for around a decade, the evolution of his iconography and style is impressive. His earliest works are similar to those of his brother, Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), and the two hands have often been confused. One consistent difference seems to be the tendency for Isack to give more space to landscape and for Adriaen to favour the depiction of figures. Other influences on Isack are the landscapes of Pieter Molijn and Salomon van Ruysdael.
Isack's first dated winter landscape is from 1639 (his latest is dated 1647) and he seems to have specialized in the subject from around 1642. His earliest winter scenes were painted in a darker, more tonal palette and with free, painterly brushwork reminiscent of the works of Jan van Goyen. We are grateful to Dr. Bernhard Schnackenburg, who has confirmed the attribution of A frozen river landscape with woodsmen felling trees on the basis of photographs to Isack van Ostade, and has suggested that it is a later work, executed after 1645 (private correspondence). It reflects the lighter palette, more exacting touch, and strong local colour characteristic of his later works. Indeed, the composition is similar to that of A frozen canal with skaters, painted between 1644 and 1647 (Paris, Louvre). Both scenes are constructed around the diagonal wedge of the foreground at the left with a distant view across the river at the right, but the carefree skaters and sledges in the Paris painting have been replaced in the present picture with the intensity of men engaged in dangerous work. Given that Isack was only active as a painter for around a decade, the evolution of his iconography and style is impressive. His earliest works are similar to those of his brother, Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), and the two hands have often been confused. One consistent difference seems to be the tendency for Isack to give more space to landscape and for Adriaen to favour the depiction of figures. Other influences on Isack are the landscapes of Pieter Molijn and Salomon van Ruysdael.