Lot 2046 Dα

Isaac van Ostade was the younger brother and pupil of Adriaen van Ostade. He died at the age of only 28 in Haarlem, where he was born in 1621. His period of artistic creativity extended from about 1636 to 1649. In these almost 13 years he produced around 100 paintings now recognised as his own works, which are now scattered throughout the world. Initially, his paintings were influenced by his brother's painting, especially in the choice of pictorial motifs. As a result, his early peasant interiors have occasionally been mistaken for those of his brother. However, Isaac soon proved open to inspirations from other artists. Thus van Goyen, Philipps Wouverman or Pieter van Laer also left traces in some of his works and had an influence on his choice of pictorial motifs. From around 1642 onwards, landscapes with figures clearly became his preferred subject.

The present work can be assigned to this second creative period, which was unfortunately cut short due to his early death. Within this period it belongs to a very small group of large-format winter landscapes, numbering fewer than ten pictures. In its panoramic scope, misty, hazy weather and dense cloud cover radiating a pale light, as well as in the grouping of the figures and buildings and the leafless trees lining the ice, this winter landscape is particularly close to one of Isaac's paintings in the Hermitage in St Petersburg (75 x 113 cm; see ill. 2). A white horse stands out as the central feature of both compositions. It is from it that the viewer's eye wanders over the other motifs that populate the image: sleigh riders, children, dogs and horse-drawn carriages, and finally, beyond the frozen surface of the ice, the silhouette of a Dutch town separating the sky from the earth - whcih are both bathed in white by the wintry weather.

Dr. Bernard Schnackenburg and Dr. Hiltrud Doll have confirmed this painting to be an authentic work by Isaac von Ostade.