Lot Essay
Dr. Bernhard Schnackenburg has, on the basis of a photograph, kindly confirmed the attribution and dates this drawing to the early 1640s. Ostade's signed painting of very similar composition, dated 1649, was with V. Spark, New York, before 1956 (fig. 1), while a copy after it was sold, Dorotheum, Vienna, 10 September 1959, lot 87.
Comparable drawings are in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin and the British Museum, London (B. Schnackenburg, Adriaen van Ostade, Isack van Ostade, Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Hamburg, 1981, nos. 36-9, illustrated). Van Ostade's study of circa 1647-52 for his etching The Breakfast (B.50), present whereabouts unknown (Schnackenburg, op. cit., no. 50), shows a comparable handling of the wash in the background. An earlier example of a similar scene was sold in these Rooms, 13 November 1995, lot 158. Dr. H.-U. Beck kindly supplied details regarding the provenance.
Comparable drawings are in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin and the British Museum, London (B. Schnackenburg, Adriaen van Ostade, Isack van Ostade, Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Hamburg, 1981, nos. 36-9, illustrated). Van Ostade's study of circa 1647-52 for his etching The Breakfast (B.50), present whereabouts unknown (Schnackenburg, op. cit., no. 50), shows a comparable handling of the wash in the background. An earlier example of a similar scene was sold in these Rooms, 13 November 1995, lot 158. Dr. H.-U. Beck kindly supplied details regarding the provenance.