Not currently on display at the V&A

A horseman stopping before an inn

Oil Painting
late 18th century-early 19th century (painted)
Artist/Maker

A horseman stopping along a country road at an inn to ask directions, goats, cattle, donkeys and sheep graze nearby. Isack was a painter, draughtsman and brother of Adriaen van Ostade, with whom he may have studied. Isack’s early landscape studies suggest that he received additional instruction from a landscape painter, possibly Salomon van Ruisdael. Isack, active for only about a decade, produced works are strongly dependent on those of his brother, several of which are in the Victoria and Albert's Collection. Isack tends to give the landscape greater prominence, while Adriaen focuses on the figures. 1360-1869 is characteristic of Isack's landscape compositions and his works in the 'Halt before the Inn' theme of the 1640s such as The Outskirts of a Village, with a Horseman 1640s in the National Gallery, London (NG 847) and Travellers at a Country Inn, 1645 in the Mauritshuis, The Hague.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleA horseman stopping before an inn (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil painting, 'A horseman stopping before an inn', manner of Isack van Ostade, late 18th-early 19th century
Physical description
A horseman stopping along a country road at an inn to ask directions, goats, cattle, donkeys and sheep graze nearby.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 76.2cm
  • Estimate width: 64.2cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800, C.M. Kauffmann, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1973
Styles
Credit line
Bequeathed by Rev., Chauncy Hare Townshend
Object history
Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, 1868

Historical significance: Isack was a painter, draughtsman and brother of Adriaen van Ostade, with whom he may have studied. Isack’s early landscape studies suggest that he received additional instruction from a landscape painter, possibly Salomon van Ruisdael. Isack, active for only about a decade, produced works are strongly dependent on those of his brother, several of which are in the Victoria and Albert's Collection. Isack tends to give the landscape greater prominence, while Adriaen focuses on the figures. 1360-1869 is characteristic of Isack's landscape compositions and his works in the 'Halt before the Inn' theme of the 1640s such as The Outskirts of a Village, with a Horseman 1640s in the National Gallery, London (NG 847) and Travellers at a Country Inn, 1645 in the Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Historical context
This work is typical of Genre Painting, a style which represented the lower or peasant classes of society that became increasingly popular throughout the 17th century in the Netherlands. These pictures usually depict scenes of everyday life, set in domestic interiors or in the open countryside. Some bear metaphorical meaning or moralising messages, but others may just be intended as representations of daily events. In both cases they are associated with health, pleasure and liberty. The leading figures of the Haarlem school in this field were Adriaen Brouwer (1606-1638) and Isack's brother Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685).
Summary
A horseman stopping along a country road at an inn to ask directions, goats, cattle, donkeys and sheep graze nearby. Isack was a painter, draughtsman and brother of Adriaen van Ostade, with whom he may have studied. Isack’s early landscape studies suggest that he received additional instruction from a landscape painter, possibly Salomon van Ruisdael. Isack, active for only about a decade, produced works are strongly dependent on those of his brother, several of which are in the Victoria and Albert's Collection. Isack tends to give the landscape greater prominence, while Adriaen focuses on the figures. 1360-1869 is characteristic of Isack's landscape compositions and his works in the 'Halt before the Inn' theme of the 1640s such as The Outskirts of a Village, with a Horseman 1640s in the National Gallery, London (NG 847) and Travellers at a Country Inn, 1645 in the Mauritshuis, The Hague.
Bibliographic references
  • Kauffmann, C.M. Catalogue of Foreign Paintings, I. Before 1800. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1973, p. 209, cat. no. 262
  • A Catalogue of the National Gallery of British Art at South Kensington with a supplement containing works by modern foreign artists and Old Masters, 2 vols., 1893, p. 183.
  • Bernhard Schnackenburg, Adriaen van Ostade, Isack van Ostade : Zeichnungen und Aquarelle : Gesamtdarstellung mit Werkkatalogen. " vols. Hamburg : E. Hauswedell,1981.
Collection
Accession number
1360-1869

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Record createdFebruary 26, 2007
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