ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE | THREE BOORS DRINKING AND SMOKING IN THE SPIRIT HOUSE

Willem Fabricius;

Anonymous sale, Haarlem, Bosch, 19 August 1749, lot 3;

Gerrit Braamcamp, Herengracht, Amsterdam;

His deceased sale, Amsterdam, Van der Schley, 31 July 1771, lot 158, for 1,100 florins to Fouquet;

With Pierre Fouquet, Amsterdam;

By whom presumably sold to Nicolaas Nieuhoff;

His deceased sale, Amsterdam, Van der Schley, 14 April 1777, lot 156, for 1,530 florins to Fouquet;

With Pierre Fouquet, Amsterdam;

By whom possibly sold to Solirène;

Anonymous sale, Paris, Delaroche, 13 March [3rd day] 1812, lot 75, for 3,320 francs to Lafontaine;

With Pierre Joseph Lafontaine, Paris;

Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, Bath House, London, by 1829;

By descent to his son William, 2nd Baron Ashburton, Bath House, London;

By whom bequeathed to his widow Louisa Caroline, Lady Ashburton Bath House, London;

After her decease sold in August 1907 en bloc with the Ashburton collection by her executor and son-in-law, William, 5th Marquess of Northampton, K.G, to a consortium of Agnew's, Charles Davis, Arthur J. Sully, Asher Wertheimer and F. Kleinberger;

By whom sold after 1910;

Dr. Paul von Schwabach, Berlin, by 1914 (and in charge to Gebr. Arnhold Bank from 1931);

With Daniel Katz, Basel and Dieren;

Forced sale from the above for the Führermuseum, Linz, July 19, 1940 (Linz no. 1318)

Restituted to the Netherlands, March 3, 1946 (Munich Central collection Point no. 3920)

Restituted to D. Katz, Dieren, by 1947;

Acquired by Dr. Lohse, Paris, after 1947;

By descent and sold (The Property of a Gentleman), London, Christie's, 11 December 2002, lot 70, for £1,051,650;

With Richard Green, London;

From whom purchased by the present owner.

S. Ampzing, Beschryving van Haarlem, Haarlem 1748 (according to the catalogue of the Braamcamp sale);

G. Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen...., The Hague 1752, vol. II, p. 263;

J.-B. Descamps, La Vie des Peintres flamands, allemands et hollandais, vol. II, Paris 1763, p. 178;

M. de Bastide, Temple des Arts du Cabinet de M. de Braamcamp, Amsterdam 1766, p. 99;

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné...., vol. I, London 1829, p. 118, cat. no. 39, as dated 1661;

G.F. Waagen, Kunstwerk und Künstler in England und Paris, vol. II, Berlin 1838, pp. 90-1;

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London 1854, vol. III, p. 106, as inscribed 1661;

T. Gaedertz, Adriaen van Ostade: sein Leben und seine Kunst, Lübeck 1869, p. 154, cat. no. 31;

C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné..., vol. III, London 1910, pp. 239-41 and 348, cat. nos. 326, 329, 332 and 679e, under the last reference referred to as 'tKwyldertje;

A. von Wurzbach, Niederländische Künstlerlexikon, vol. II, Vienna and Leipzig 1910, p. 278;

I. Errera, Répertoire des Peintures Datées, Brussels 1920-1, p. 302;

E. Trautscholdt, "Über Adriaen Ostade als Zeichner," Festschrift Friedrich Winkler, Berlin 1959, p. 292, note 20;

C. Bille, De Tempel der Kunst of het Kabinet van den Heer Braamcamp, Amsterdam 1961, vol. II, pp. 38/38a and 109-110, cat. nos. 158 and 158b, supplement I, figure 158b;

C. Moiso-Diekamp, Das Pendant in der Niederländische Malerei der 17 Jahrhunderts, Frankfurt 1987, p. 419, B11.

Long considered, along with its former pendant, to be one of the best examples of Adriaen van Ostade’s work, this tavern scene was described by Gustav Waagen in 1854 as “of the best time of the master, warm, clear and not exaggerated in tone; and delicately executed” (See Literature). The pendant, depicting a man and woman seated at a table with another man looking on, is dated 1661, indicating that both were painted during the peak of Ostade’s mature career. This painting displays a combination of adept storytelling and characterization, fine detail, and subtlety in coloring. 

Ostade began his career studying with Frans Hals (1582 - 1666) at the same time as Adriaen Brouwer (1605 - 1638), the latter of whom would be especially instrumental for Ostade’s popular scenes of smoking, gambling, drinking, and enjoyment among the lower classes. In the present painting, as in many works after the 1640s, Ostade focused more on the personalities and expressions of the drinkers than on the action in the scene, a development which is often described as evidence of Ostade treating his subjects with more sympathy. This sympathetic touch, combined with a richer, refined palette and deeper chiaroscuro, distinguished Ostade from Brouwer and others and defined his personal style.

While Hofstede de Groot describes the present painting as dated 1661 like its pendant, no evidence of a date survives. We can confidently date this painting to the early 1660s on the basis of coloring and handling. Scenes of boors overindulging in drink and gambling were increasingly rare in Ostade’s oeuvre by this time, making the present lot special in its combination of subject and detailed handling. One interpretation of the shift in Ostade's subject matter is that he began to idealize peasant life by emphasizing simple pleasures and the virtues of modest living, a theme which can coincide with or replace a message of satire on human folly. The present scene and its pendant remained together until a descendant of Asher Wertheimer, one of the group who acquired the pair in 1907, sold the pendant in London, Sotheby's, 8 July 1987, lot 111.

A note on provenance:

Gerrit Braamcamp was the eldest son of Amsterdam wine merchant Jan Braamcamp. The wealth he amassed from the expanded family business allowed him to form a renowned art collection totaling some 380 works by the 1760s. His primary collecting field was Dutch Golden Age painting, and among his masterpieces were Rembrandt’s stolen Storm on the Sea of Galilee (formerly Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston), Gabriel Metsu's Old Woman with a Book by a Window (London, National Gallery), and works by celebrated genre, landscape, and still life painters including Gerrit Dou, Gerard Ter Borch, Jan van Huysum, Paulus Potter, Jan Steen, and Jan van der Heyden. Upon his death, Braamcamp sold his entire collection, of which several works were purchased by Catherine II of Russia but lost at sea on the trip to St. Petersburg.

Later owner Alexander Baring was created Lord Ashburton in 1835 and collected art in London and the continent, displaying his collection between The Grange, his neoclassical mansion in Hampshire, and Bath House, London. Waagen saw the present painting at the latter location, praising its comprehensive representation of the best of Dutch and Flemish painting. The second Lord Ashburton inherited and expanded the collection, and upon his death in 1864 it passed to his widow, Louisa Stewart-Mackenzie, who socialized with Victorian poets and writers. 

The present picture remained with its pendant until it was sold to von Swabach, while the pendant remained with the descendants of Asher Wertheimer, who had been one of the buyers in 1907, until sold at Sotheby’s London 8 July 1987, lot 111. The fact that the pair remained together so long and in highly esteemed collections speaks to the lasting appeal of Ostade’s insightful depictions of human nature.