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Peasant with a bottle and glass beside a barrel

Maker

(artist)
1610-1685

Title

Date of Production

1600 - 1699

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink, grey wash on laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 6.6 cm
Width: 5.1 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.1585

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Figure drawings like these played a vital role in Ostade’s oeuvre, as he used them as stock images for his paintings and prints. The pronounced graphite under-drawing of the peasant seated on the ground (far right) demonstrates that these studies were carefully developed and refined in the artist’s workshop. To make his figures instantly recognisable as peasants, Ostade gave them certain stereotypical features and crude postures such as squatting, spread legs and crossed feet. These flouted contemporary etiquette, and amused urban audiences who delighted in the grotesque.

Provenance

William Esdaile, London (1758-1837), L.2617; his estate sale, Christie’s (London), 18 - 25 June 1840, probably no. 839; Sir Edward John Poynter, London (1836-1919), L.874; Sotheby's (London), 17 - 18 April 1923, lot 125B (with D.1952.RW.1586-1588); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b (£7.35 for all four); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Special Display - Drawing Peasants, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/09/2010-10/02/2011

Master Drawings of the 17th century from the Witt Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia, Festival Exhibitions, Adelaide, 1968

Exhibition of paintings: seventeenth century Dutch and Flemish schools, loaned by the Trustees of the National Gallery, and drawings loaned by Sir Robert Witt, C.B.E. and Lady Witt., Hanley Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, 29/02/1928-26/05/1928; City of York Museum and Art Gallery, York, 01/06/1928-01/09/1928

Literature

Exhibition of paintings : seventeenth century dutch and flemish schools, loaned by the Trustees of the National Gallery, and drawings loaned by Sir Robert Witt, C.B.E. and Lady Witt., Hanley Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent and City of York Museum and Art Gallery, York, 1928, 1928
cat. no. 37

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Mount (removed, in curatorial file), Recto: upper left, brown ink: “No. 1”.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower left corner, brown ink, cut off: William Esdaile (L.2617). Verso (backing sheet): lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b). Mount (removed, in curatorial file), Recto: lower left, stamped in black ink: Edward John Poynter (L.874).

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