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Isaac van Ostade (bapt. June 2, 1621 – buried October 16, 1649) was a
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other f ...
and
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
painter.


Biography

Van Ostade was born in
Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...
. He began his studies under his brother, Adriaen, with whom he remained until 1641, when he started his own practice. At an early period he felt the influence of
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...
, and this is apparent in a ''Slaughtered Pig'' of 1639, in the gallery of Augsburg. He soon found a style more suited to his own inclinations. He produced pictures in 1641–1642 on the lines of his brother – amongst these, the Five Senses, which Adrian afterwards represented by a ''Man reading a Paper'', a ''Peasant tasting Beer'', a ''Rustic smearing his Sores with Ointment'' and a ''Countryman sniffing at a Snuff-box''. A specimen of Isaac's work at this period may be seen in the ''Laughing Boor with a Pot of Beer'', in the museum of Amsterdam; the cottage interior, with two peasants and three children near a fire, in the Berlin museum; a ''Concert'', with people listening to singers accompanied by a piper and flute player, and a ''Boor stealing a Kiss from a Woman'', in the Lacaze collection at the Louvre. The interior at Berlin is lighted from a casement in the same Rembrandtesque style as Adrian's interior of 1643 at the Louvre. He received low prices for this kind of painting, in which he could only remain subordinate to his brother. Gradually he abandoned Adriaen's cottage subjects for landscapes in the fashion of
Esaias van de Velde Esaias van de Velde (17 May 1587 (baptized) – 18 November 1630 (buried) ) was a Dutch landscape painter. Biography He was born in Amsterdam, where his Flemish father Hans had fled as a Protestant in 1585. He probably studied under his fathe ...
and
Salomon van Ruysdael Salomon van Ruysdael (c. 1602, Naarden – buried 3 November 1670, Haarlem) was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter. He was the uncle of Jacob van Ruisdael.
. Once only, in 1645, he reverted to the earlier mode, when he produced the ''Slaughtered Pig'', with a boy puffing out a
bladder The urinary bladder, or simply bladder, is a hollow organ in humans and other vertebrates that stores urine from the kidneys before disposal by urination. In humans the bladder is a distensible organ that sits on the pelvic floor. Urine en ...
, in the museum of Lille. Isaac's progress in his new path was greatly facilitated by his previous experience as a figure painter; and, although he now selected his subjects either from village high streets or frozen canals, he gave fresh life to the scenes by depicting animated groups of people with a refined and searching study of picturesque contrasts. He did not live long enough to bring his art to the highest perfection. He died on 16 October 1649 in Haarlem, having painted about 400 pictures (see H. de Groot, 1910). The first manifestation of Isaac's surrender of Adriaen's style is apparent in 1644 when the skating and sledging scenes were executed which we see in the Lacaze collection and the galleries of the Hermitage,
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
and
Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...
. Three of these examples bear the artists name, spelled Isack van Ostade, and the dates of 1644 and 1645. The roadside inns, with halts of travellers, form a compact series from 1646 to 1649. This is the last form of Isaac's art and has very distinct peculiarities. The air which pervades his composition is warm and sunny, yet mellow and hazy, as if the sky were veiled with a vapour coloured by moor smoke. The trees are rubbings of umber, in which the prominent foliage is tipped with touches hardened in a liquid state by amber varnish mediums. The same principle applied to details such as glazed bricks or rents in the mud lining of cottages gives an unreal and conventional stamp to them. These quirks are overcome by his broad contrasts of light and shade and the masterly figures of horses, riders, travellers, rustics, quarrelling children, dogs, poultry and cattle. A favorite place is always given to the white horse, which seems as invariable an accompaniment as the grey in the skirmishes and fairs of
Philip Wouwerman Philips Wouwerman (also Wouwermans) (24 May 1619 (baptized) – 19 May 1668) was a Dutch painter of hunting, landscape and battle scenes. Life and work Philips Wouwerman was one of the most versatile and prolific artists of the Dutch Golden Ag ...
. Isaac displays the best qualities in winter scenes. The absence of foliage, the crisp atmosphere and the calm air of cold January days, unsullied by smoke or vapour, preclude the use of the brown tinge, and leave the painter no choice but to ring the changes with a great variety of opal tints. Then the figures emerge with masterly effect on the light background. Amongst the roadside inns it is worth noting those in the collections of
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
, the
National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director of ...
, the Wallace Collection and Holford collections in England, the Louvre, Berlin, Hermitage and Rotterdam museums and the Rothschild collection at Vienna. The finest of the ice scenes is the famous one at the Louvre. For paintings and etchings see ''Les Fréres Ostade'', by Marguerite van de Wiele (Paris, 1893). For his etchings see ''L'Œuvre d'Ostade, cu description des eaux-fortes de ce maître'', etc., by Auguste d'Orange (1860); and ''Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l'œuvre grave d'Adrian van Ostade'', by L.E. Faucheux (Paris, 1862).


References

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