A Family Scene

After Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685)

17th c. Oil on wood

Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685) was one on the most prolific country life genre painters in art history. He worked in Haarlem, an important centre of Dutch art in the 17th century. The number of works attributed to him is awe inspiring: nearly 800 paintings, 50 etchings, 404 drawings and dozens of watercolours.

“A Family Scene” is an exact copy of the painting made by Adriaen van Ostade in 1637. The more diligent brushwork differentiates it clearly from the grotesque and uneven style of Adriaen van Ostade’s works from the same period. The painting is unsigned, so it is hard to say whether it is a copy of the master’s original made by one of his pupils or a copy commissioned by an art dealer or collector from someone outside the studio.