A baker blowing his horn

Adriaen van Ostade (1610-85) was a major Dutch Golden Age artist. He probably trained in Frans Hals's Haarlem workshop, where the subject matter of fellow student Adriaen Brouwer, master of delicately painted boors carousing, determined Van Ostade's own themes. In his early work, Van Ostade depicted scenes of peasants engaged in debauchery using Rembrandt's forceful chiaroscuro. Later, he portrayed calmer, more respectable people in comfortable interiors with carefully structured spaces and picturesque clutter. By then, both he and Holland had become more prosperous. An extremely prolific artist, Van Ostade produced hundreds of paintings; over 800 survive. He also painted portraits and still lifes and added figures to paintings by Pieter Saenredam, Jacob van Ruisdael, and others. Van Ostade's watercolors, about half of which were made after 1670, were attempts to duplicate the effect of his oil paintings through watercolor and were in much demand. His students included his considerably younger brother Isaack and Jan Steen.  

After Rembrandt, Van Ostade was the major Dutch etcher of his day, producing 50 recorded etchings, and is well represented in Te Papa's collection. His prints were highly regarded by his contemporaries and remained enduringly popular long after his death and went through a number of editions.

This etching is a reverse near copy of Van Ostade's painting in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and some accounts date it to 1664. It belongs to the 'respectable' working people phase of his career, though there is deliberately no excess refinement or sophistication in the baker figure. It has been hot working near the oven and the baker is stripped to his shirt. He blows his horn to tell the neighbourhood that hot bread is ready. The basket to the right contains two loaves.

Te Papa owns two impressions of this print. The other (1869-0001-359) forms part of the Colonial Museum's foundation art collection, and was presented by Bishop Ditlev Monrad.

Sources:

Art Gallery of New South Wales, https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/6724.39/

The J. Paul Getty Museum, http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/460/adriaen-van-ostade-dutch-1610-1685/

Dr Mark Stocker    Curator, Historical International Art        July 2017