Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade was born in 1610 in Haarlem where he lived and worked all his life. According to Houbraken, he was a student, along with Adriaen Brouwer (c. 1605-1638), of Frans Hals (c. 1581-1666). His master influenced him relatively little, whereas Brouwer had a decisive impact on the evolution of Ostade's representation of peasant life. Throughout his career, Van Ostade continued to depict peasants, usually drinking or smoking in taverns or interiors. He also painted biblical scenes, various portraits and representatives of many professions, some respectable, others not: merchants, schoolmasters, lawyers and charlatans. The first document that mentions Adriaen as a painter dates back to 1632. Around 1634 at the latest, he became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke of Haarlem where he fulfilled various functions. He was also a member of the Haarlem civic guard. He was very prolific as a painter: he produced more than eight hundred paintings as well as around two hundred drawings and watercolors. He trained many students, among whom the most important were his younger brother Isack van Ostade, Cornelis Bega and probably Jan Steen.
Our Seated Drinking Couple takes up a theme treated several times by Adriaen van Ostade. On the left, a woman, with a glass in her hand, is seated near a man who leans towards her while holding her by the wrist, his other hand placed on her shoulder. The proximity of the two characters clearly evokes a scene of seduction as in the artist's composition known from the engraving by Cornelis Visscher.
The rustic and slightly caricatured faces of our loving peasant couple are entirely characteristic of the pen drawings made by the artist until the years 1670-1672, representing isolated characters or complete preparatory scenes for a painting or engraving . The incisions present in our drawing around the man's head suggest that our sheet was probably used with the intention of transferring it for an engraving but no corresponding print has been identified in Van Ostade's work nor at Cornelis Dusart. Indeed, after the master's death in 1685, Dusart inherited the contents of his workshop and therefore a large part of the character drawings which he sometimes reused in his own works, or even which he reworked by adding washes and watercolor. It is also not completely excluded that this is the case for our drawing, as it is difficult to distinguish between an original colored by Van Ostade himself and the later additions by Dusart. The Städelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt has several drawings by Adriaen van Ostade using a similar technique.[2]
[1] A. Ebert, Adriaen van Ostade und die komische Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts.
Berlin, 2013, p. 119, ill. 32
[2] B. Schnackenburg, Adriaen van Ostade, Isack van Ostade. Zeichnungen und Aquarelle.
Hambourg, 1981, pp. 139, ill. 296 et 297 et p. 138, ill. 283
