Oil on oak panel, 'Three Peasants Seated', cirlce of Adriaen van Ostade, 17th century

Three drunken peasants sit in a darkened inn or tavern, one holding an earthenware jug, another slumped back in his chair, a glass in hand and a broken clay pipe at his feet, and the third asleep at the table, a hat pulled down over his head.

Waagen accepted the attribution to Ostade when he saw this picture in the Rev. C. H. Townshend's drawing room and wrote of it: 'In tone of colour and softness of touch this pretty picture recalls Adrian Brouwer.'
Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend, 1868.

[Chauncy Hare Townshend]
Ref : Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix.

'Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was born into a wealthy family, only son of Henry Hare Townsend of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1821). Succeeded to the family estates 1827, when he added 'h' to the Townsend name. He had taken holy orders, but while he always referred to himself as 'Rev.' on the title pages of his books, he never practised his vocation... . Very much a dilettante in the eighteenth-century sense, he moved in the highest social and literary circles; a great friend of Charles Dickens (he was the dedicatee of Great Expectations) with whom he shared a fascination of mesmerism... Bulwer Lytton described his life's 'Beau-deal of happiness' as 'elegant rest, travel, lots of money - and he is always ill and melancholy'. Of the many watercolours and British and continental oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A, the majority are landscapes. He is the first identifiable British collector of early photographs apart from the Prince Consort, particularly landscape photography, and also collected gems and geological specimens.'

Historical significance: Adriaen van Ostade was a painter, draughtsman and etcher who is believed to have been a pupil, concurrently with Adriaen Brouwer, of Frans Hals in Haarlem. However, Brouwer appears to have had a greater influence on van Ostade than Hals, as suggested by his idiosyncratic portrayals of peasant life. Brouwer provided a point of departure for Adriaen's early paintings representing parties of smoking, drinking, gambling, dancing and amorous peasants in settings of chaotic squalor in the tradition of peasant satire, highlighting the vices of humankind (ie. Country People in an Inn, before 1633, Budapest, Mus. F.A.; Dancing Couple, ca. 1635, Amsterdam, Rijksmus.; and Smell, from a series of the Five Senses, 1635, St Petersburg, Hermitage). Taverns provided an important focus for social life among the lower classes in the north Netherlands and were frequently shown filled with drinkers and gamblers by genre painters, in particular those such as van Ostade and Jan Steen. Such works often contained vivid illustrations of peasant foolishness and self-indulgence in which drunkenness is mocked in particular. 1347-1869 is painted in van Ostade's style of the 1650s when he was primarily painting scenes of excessive drinking and gambling (ie. Peasants Brawling, 1656; Munich, Alte Pin.) in a palette of warm green-browns. Kauffmann however found it unconvincing as a 17th century picture and suggested it was more likely to be an 18th century pastiche after Ostade. Recent examination suggests however that the work is of a high quality and very probably a 17th century work largely obscured by discoloured varnish and grime.

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 Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685).

Three drunken peasants sit in a darkened inn or tavern, one holding an earthenware jug, another slumped back in his chair, a glass in hand and a broken clay pipe at his feet, and the third asleep at the table, a hat pulled down over his head. Adriaen van Ostade was a painter, draughtsman and etcher who is believed to have been a pupil, concurrently with Adriaen Brouwer, of Frans Hals in Haarlem. However, Brouwer appears to have had a greater influence on van Ostade than Hals, as suggested by his idiosyncratic portrayals of peasant life. Brouwer provided a point of departure for Adriaen's early paintings representing parties of smoking, drinking, gambling, dancing and amorous peasants in settings of chaotic squalor in the tradition of peasant satire, highlighting the vices of humankind (ie. Country People in an Inn, before 1633, Budapest, Mus. F.A.; Dancing Couple, ca. 1635, Amsterdam, Rijksmus.; and Smell, from a series of the Five Senses, 1635, St Petersburg, Hermitage). Taverns provided an important focus for social life among the lower classes in the north Netherlands and were frequently shown filled with drinkers and gamblers by genre painters, in particular those such as van Ostade and Jan Steen. Such works often contained vivid illustrations of peasant foolishness and self-indulgence in which drunkenness is mocked in particular. 1347-1869 is painted in van Ostade's style of the 1650s when he was primarily painting scenes of excessive drinking and gambling (ie. Peasants Brawling, 1656; Munich, Alte Pin.) in a palette of warm green-browns.

1347-1869