Feasting Peasants in a Tavern

Adriaen van Ostade's paintings are almost exclusively concerned with mid-seventeenth- century peasant life; yet rather than focussing on the labourer's unremitting struggle for existence, he borrows his approach to the subject from contemporary comedy and takes as his theme its coarse and comic side. In his later work, this gives way to a more tranquil, carefree picture of country life, expressive of the nostalgic longings of the urban middle class.

While in Ostade's early work the caricatural, almost grotesque, aspect of the figures is still dominant, they increasingly develop into vivid portrayals of individual personality and natural gesture. With this comes too a change in painterly technique. The earlier spatial and figural disorder has given way to a disciplined, semi-circular placement of the figures, while the palette, earlier dominated by brown and grey, is now more various, and accent is provided by strong local colour. The atmosphere seems cooler and more transparent.

In both its early depiction of the licentious and grotesque and its later evocation of the minor pleasures of modest lives, Adriaen von Ostade's work is distinguished by an outstanding capacity for observation that brings out the common humanity of his people.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 26 minutes): Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata BWV 212 (Bauernkantate)