Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), as a pupil of Frans Hals at Haarlem,
occupies an important position in his school. He is seen to very great
advantage at the Louvre. From his early _Interior of a Cabaret_ (No.
2506), which is signed on a form
“A. V. OSTADE 1641,”
we see the direction his life’s work was to take; and his _Interior of
a Cottage_ (No. 2498) of the following year, strengthens that view.
Although _Reading the Gazette_ (No. 2505), of 1653, is painted on
a very small panel, it heightens our appreciation of this able and
careful painter, who, a year later, must have spent a long time in
the completion of a _Family Group_, which traditionally passes as the
_Family of the Artist_ (No. 2495). The _Toper_ (No. 2401), of 1668, and
the intensely realistic _Smoker_ (No. 2500), are highly characteristic,
while the _Schoolmaster_ (No. 2496) shows great observation. The _Fish
Market_ (No. 2497), the _Business Man in his Study_ (No. 2499), the
_Man Drinking_ (No. 2502), the _Man Reading_ (No. 2503), the _Reading_
(No. 2504), and the _Interior of a School_ (No. 2507), are both in
subject and handling good examples of his methods, which were affected
by a study of Adriaen Brouwer and Rembrandt.
Adriaen van Ostade was the elder brother and the master of Isack van
Ostade (1621-1649), who is equally well represented at the Louvre.
Although he painted two _Interiors_ (Nos. 2512 and 2514), a _Toit à
porcs_ (No. 2513), a _Halt_ (No. 2509), and an overcrowded _Travellers
Halting_ (No. 2508), his best works, here as elsewhere, represent
landscapes and frozen river scenes.
Adriaen van Ostade had also as pupils Cornelis Bega (1620-1664), by
whom the Louvre possesses a very late _Rustic Interior_ (No. 2312), of
1662; and H. M. Sorgh, called Rokes (1611?-1670), three of whose panels
(Nos. 2571-2573) are exhibited.