Oil painting, 'Landscape with Horseman and a Cart', style of Isack van Ostade, probably seventeenth century

Bequeathed by George Mitchell

Bequeathed by George Mitchell, 1878

This painting was bequeathed to the Museum as a work by Isaak van Ostade (1621-1649) however it was not recorded in Hofstede de Groot’s 1910 catalogue raisonné of van Ostade’s work and in his 1973 Catalogue of Foreign Paintings Before 1800, Michael Kauffmann recorded the painting as ‘style of Isaak van Ostade’. Van Ostade was the brother and pupil of genre painter Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685) and his early work, dating from the period up to 1642 were heavily influenced by his brother’s style. After 1642, Isack specialized in a combination of genre and landscape, possibly having received instruction from landscape artist Salomon van Ruysdael (1602-1670). In the 1640s, his work is characterised by a warm, brown tone with areas of bright local colour and white highlights. The frequent use of pink tones for the sky was common in Salomon van Ruysdael’s work of the early 1640s.

This work corresponds in style to Isack van Ostade’s work of the period after 1642, particularly in relationship to the overall tones of the painting, the bright areas of colour and the pink hues of the sky. However, the overall quality of the painting is such that it cannot convincingly be attributed to van Ostade himself. Although, Kauffmann does not rule out the possibility of the painting being a nineteenth century work, in a note in the departmental object file dated 1960, Neil Maclaren (then Deputy Keeper of Spanish, Dutch and Flemish Painting at the National Gallery, London) is recorded as stating that it is “probably a seventeenth century picture”.

This painting was formerly thought to be the work of Dutch landscape and genre painter Isaack van Ostade (1621-1649). However it is now believed to have been painted by an unknown artist in the style of van Ostade, most likely in the seventeenth century, although it is possible that painting is a nineteenth century work in a seveteenth century style. Isaack van Ostade was initially influenced by the genre scenes of his brother Adriaen, of whom he was a pupil. After 1642, Isaack began to paint atmospheric landscape scenes with genre figures in a the smae style as this painting. These were characterized by warm brown tones with areas of bright colour.

345-1878