Interior with Peasants

593
Interior with Peasants
1670s;
Adriaen van Ostade

This is a "bambocciata" set in a peasant interior, characteristic of A. van Ostade. The bambocciata genre paintings depicted comic, grotesque scenes from everyday life and, usually painted in small format, were very popular in Holland throughout the 17th c. A merrymaking party is portrayed in a picturesque interior of a country inn: a peasant is raising his glass as a laughing country-woman tries to grab his beard.

A sturdy woman with a pipe, a boy with a dog, a dancing peasant couple and a fiddler complete the picture. Their movements are lively and expressive, while the features are reduced to prototypes. The interior is dominated by brown and ochre tones, with stronger colour highlights on certain parts of their clothes. The scene gains a colourful quality through the strong contrast between the light and shadow.