Peasant Family Praying Before a Meal

1653

Adriaen van Ostade

Associated Names
Adriaen van Ostade

Artist, Dutch, 1610 - 1685

This is a drawing of a domestic scene with a small group gathered around a wooden table. The room features a rough-hewn floor and simple furnishings, with an old ladder against the wall. Light illuminates the scene from the upper left, and a bowl with a ladle is on the table. The shading and cross-hatching techniques resemble early printmaking styles, creating depth and texture. Shadows from the figures add warmth and intimacy to the scene.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching, with touches of drypoint, on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (trimmed to plate mark): 15.3 x 13 cm (6 x 5 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8309

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein, no. 35, State ii/vii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

John Postle Heseltine [1843-1929], London, (Lugt 1508); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA (Lugt 1932d and 1760b), 1929; gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1933

  • An Exhibition of Prints from the Collection of Lessing J. Rosenwald, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, 1933, no. 113.

1936

  • The Centennial Exposition: Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures, Graphic Arts, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1936, no. 17.

1945

  • Prints from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, IN, 1945, no. 51.

1996

  • Scenes of Daily Life: Genre Prints from the Housebook Master to Rembrandt van Rijn, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1996.

Bibliography

1949

  • Hollstein, F.W.H. et al. Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700. 72 vols. Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1964; vol. XV, no. 34, iii/vii.

1990

  • Godefroy, Louis. The Complete Etchings of Adriaen van Ostade. San Francisco, 1990: no. 34, ii/vi.

1993

  • The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. (Adriaen van Ostade, Paolo Giordani and Jaco Rutgers, authors). Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers, 2023: no. 35, ii/vii.

Inscriptions

in plate, within image at upper right: Av. Ostade / 1653; verso, top left, in graphite by a later hand: 34. r.; upper right, in graphite by a later hand: [illegible inscription] /
W/C [?]; lower center, in graphite by a later hand: B.34 I / Dav 34 II / C. 6462 / 4; lower right, in graphite by a later hand: B 34; bottom right, in blue pencil by a later hand: 518

Wikidata ID

Q65018504

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