Villagers Merrymaking at an Inn

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Villagers Merrymaking at an Inn

Artist Adriaen van Ostade (Dutch, 1610 - 1685)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Date1652

DimensionsH: 16 3/4 in. (42.5 cm); W: 21 7/8 in. (55.5 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1969.339

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 22

Label TextImages of the supposedly raucous, unrestrained lives of peasants (largely based on stereotypes rather than reality) were in high demand in middle-class Dutch homes. Adriaen van Ostade was one of the most popular and accomplished Dutch artists who specialized in such scenes of rustic life. Early in his career Van Ostade often presented his peasants as objects of ridicule whose uncontrolled drinking, fighting, and lechery provided an example of how not to live. However, his later works, like this example, were more matter-of-fact and less judgmental. The villagers in this cavernous inn drink and smoke, dance and flirt, but Van Ostade gives them a sense of dignity and a carefree joy for life. See another painting of peasants by Adriaen’s brother Isaak in this gallery.Published ReferencesSmith, J., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, London, IX, (Supplement), London, 1842, no. 52.

Sedelmeyer Gallery, Illustrated Catalogue of the Sixth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters, Paris, 1900, no. 26.

von Bode, W., "Die beiden Ostade," Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, XXVII, 1916, p. 4.

Hofstede de Groot, C., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, London, 1907-1928, III, no. 546.

Godefroy, F., L'oeuvre gravé de Adriaen van Ostade, Paris, 1930, in no. 49.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 12, no. 4, Winter, 1969, p. 106, repr.

"La Chronique Des Arts," Gazette Des Beaux-Arts, vol. 175, no. 1213, Feb. 1970, repr. p. 65, no. 298.

Davidson, Ruth, "Museum Accessions," Antiques, vol. 99, no. 5, May 1971, p. 672, repr.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 119, pl. 110.

Schnackenburg, Bernard, Adriaen van Ostade, Isack van Ostade, Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Hamburg, 1981, vol. I, p. 95, nos. 72, 73, 74.

Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Berlin (West), Gemaldegalerie; London, Royal Academy of Arts; 1984, pp. 284, 285, repr. (col.) pl 28 [in German edition of catalogue, Von Frans Hals bis Vermeer, pp. 266-267].

Kloek, Wouter, Jan Steen (1626-1679), Zwolle, Waanders, 2005, p. 71, fig. 75 (col.), p. 73.

Shawe-Taylor, Desmond, and Quentin Buvelot, Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer, London, Royal Collection Trust, 2015, p. 151, repr. (col.) fig. 71, p. 153.

Kostyria, Maksim, Adriaen Van Ostade: His Life and Work, 1610-1685, Igor Minakov, 2019, repr. (col.) no. 56, p. 64.

Exhibition HistoryPhiladelphia Museum of Art; Berlin (West), Gemäldegalerie; London, Royal Academy of Arts, Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting, 1984, no. 90.