Adriaen van Ostade

Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade was a painter and etcher of scenes of peasant life. He was very prolific; more than 800 of his pictures are known, and many etchings. His works were much collected in the 18th century.

Van Ostade was born at Haarlem and probably trained by Frans Hals. More important for him than Hals was the influence of the Flemish painter, Adriaen Brouwer, who may have been a pupil of Hals around 1620/1. Van Ostade was a member of the Haarlem guild of painters in 1647 and 1661, and Dean of the guild in 1662. From about 1640 the influence of Rembrandt is detectable in the use of light and shade in his paintings.

His work influenced the scenes of peasant life painted by his short-lived younger brother, Isack, who was also a landscape painter, and the peasant scenes of Jan Steen.