Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade

Max Zürcher, Luzern, his cat. no. 46 ;
Anonymous sale, Zurich, Koller, 28 May 1976, lot 5342 ;
With David Koetser, Zurich, 1976;
Private collection, Switzerland;
With David Koetser, Zurich, 2002;
From whom bought by a private collector;
By whom anonymously sold ('The Property of a Private Collector'), New York, Sotheby's, 25 January 2007, lot 21;
There purchased by the present owner.

Paris, Grand Palais, Biennale, September 1976.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been restored and should be hung as is. The panel is un-reinforced and the paint layer is stable. Under ultraviolet light a few tiny retouches are visible in the background and there is a spot above the hat and two on the left side which are slightly larger. In the hand the pipe, the jug and the figure of the man generally there seem to be hardly any other restorations. The painting appears to be in healthy state. It would be a mistake to assume that the restorations described above are the only restorations to the painting yet while there may be other restorations beneath an older varnish in the background, the figure generally seems to be in health state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This is one of a series of studies of small-scale single figures that Ostade produced relatively late in his career.  He had in fact painted studies of single figures throughout much of his life, but the earlier ones are more strongly caricatural, depicting raucous, drunken peasant types.  While the element of caricature is always present, later pictures such as this depict more prosperous people, often lawyers or scholars, reading or, as here, enjoying a quiet drink and a smoke at the end of the day.  Ostade's pictures portray types of people and are almost never portraits.  The physiognomy of the present elderly man for example, with his lozenge-shaped sunken eyes, resolute chin, small mouth and high forehead, can be found in numerous other pictures as a man of varying age; so many of them, in fact, that one wonders if he has used his own features, here at the age of about sixty.

When this picture was with Koetser in 1976, it was described as being dated 1676 or 1678. No trace of the date is now visible, however when last sold in 2007, Dr. Hiltraud Doll confirmed  the attribution on grounds of style, and also suggested a dating of around 1670.  She will include this picture in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Adriaen and Isack van Ostade as no. 265.