Knife Fight Among Peasants

1653

Adriaen van Ostade

Associated Names
Adriaen van Ostade

Artist, Dutch, 1610 - 1685

This is a drawing of several figures engaged in a physical altercation in a dimly lit room. The central figure raises an arm, and the others are either participating or reacting. The figures are detailed and expressive, rendered in a cross-hatching technique. There is a curved window in the background with slivers of light shining through.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching, with touches of drypoint, on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 12.5 × 14.6 cm (4 15/16 × 5 3/4 in.)
    sheet: 12.9 × 14.8 cm (5 1/16 × 5 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8297

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    New Hollstein, no. 18, State v/viii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Fritz Rumpf [1856-1927], Potsdam (Lugt 2161); (sale, C.G. Boerner, Leipzig, May 7-9, 1928, no. 822); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA (Lugt 1932d and 1760b), 1928; gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

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. 18, v/viii.

1990

  • Godefroy, Louis. The Complete Etchings of Adriaen van Ostade. San Francisco, 1990: no. 18, v/viii.

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. 33, vi/viii.

Inscriptions

in plate, below image at lower left: Av ostade 1653; verso, lower left, in graphite by a later hand: B18, DAV V; lower right, in graphite by a later hand: 822

Wikidata ID

Q65018492

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