A man holding a pipe, in an interior; and A woman holding a jug and a glass of beer, in an interior

One of the foremost genre painters of seventeenth-century Holland, Adriaen van Ostade is recorded as having started his career as a pupil of Frans Hals in Haarlem, at the same time as Adriaen Brouwer (1605-1638). It was these two artists, and Brouwer in particular, who inspired van Ostade to develop his lively, sometimes raucous scenes of smoking, drinking and carousing peasants in their village surroundings. From the 1640s onwards, however, he began to endow his figures with greater restraint and dignity, his palette becoming richer and his chiaroscuro stronger.

This spirited pair of pictures present a couple engaged in qquotidian activities, smoking and drinking. Although art of the time tended to use these vices for moralising purposes, Ostade’s depiction is relatively sympathetic, presenting two sitters enjoying simple pleasures. Each painting includes a table; the man’s has a brazier to light his pipe, and the woman’s with a plate laden with food. The placement at the inside edge of each composition suggests some spatial commonality and shared pleasures. A very similar smart red jacket, white shirt and blue skirt reappear in an exquisite painting by van Ostade formerly in the Rothschild collection and sold Christie’s, New York, 29 January 2014, lot 9. The colourful garments enhance the spirit and vibrancy of the paintings.