Lot 1548 Dα

Little is known about the origins and life of the Haarlem landscape painter Jacob van Mosscher. His works show influences by Jan van Goyen, Pieter Molyn or Cornelis Vroom. It is also known that he was friends with the brothers Adriaen and Isaac Ostade and that they occasionally painted the figurative staffage in his pictures. In the 17th century, such collaboration was quite common practice.
We are grateful to Dr Bernhard Schnackenburg for identifying the two artists who were involved in the creation of this composition. In this regard he writes: "Although partly tiny and executed with few dashes of colour, the figures are of high quality and contain the characteristic features of Ostade's style. The animals are, of course, one of them."