Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685) Dutch, Framed Etching. Titled in French on a label on the back: "La Fete Sous la treille" (Festival Under a Trellis). Also attributed and noted in French "Epreuve des premiers Tirages" (Proof of the First Prints). Framing label on back. 

Overall: 15 1/4 X 17 1/2 in. 

Sight: 5 1/2 X 7 1/4 in. 

#3864 . 

Adriaen van Ostade (baptized as Adriaen Jansz Hendricx) was born on December 10th, 1610 in the hamlet of Ostade near Eindhoven in The Netherlands. He and his brother both became pupils of the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, and, like him, spent most of their lives in Haarlem. In 1632 Adriaen was registered as an artist in Utrecht, but he returned to Haarlem in 1634 at the invitation of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke. Two years later he joined a company of the civic guard, and in 1638 he married. His wife died two years later, and all records of her name have been lost, although in 1657 he married once again to Anna Ingels. A massive collection of his works in the Lichtenstein Gallery in Vienna demonstrate the progression of his early work, and his ever-changing exploration of light and shadow, particularly the years after 1640 when the influence of Rembrandt radically shifted his style. He opened a workshop and took on pupils that same year, most notably Cornelis Pietersz Bega, Cornelis Dusart, Jan de Groot, Michiel van Musscher, and Jan Steen. In 1642 he painted a Nativity scene in the interior at the Louvre, but rarely used religious subjects in his works for the next two decades. In 1662 he was made a deacon of the Guild of St. Luke, but took a brief period away from art after the death of Anna in 1666. In the Rampjaar (Disaster Year) of 1672, he packed up his goods with the intention of fleeing to Lübeck in the wake of the invading French army. He got as far as Amsterdam, however, when he was convinced to stay by the art collector Konstantyn Sennepart, in whose house he sought refuge, and where he made a series of colored drawings. These drawings were seen by the writer Arnold Houbraken, who dedicated a significant section of one of his biographies to Adriaen, and helped him gain prominence in the new city. Adriaen, like many of  contemporaries, primarily depicted tavern scenes, village fairs, and country quarters, always seeking to capture everyday peasant life. His art has appeared in museums throughout Eastern and Western Europe, and many can be found in private collections, particularly at estates in England. He returned to Haarlem in 1680, and died there in 1685.