Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 3, 1910.djvu/418

 404 ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE SECT. Between them at the back is another man looking down ; behind him stands another peasant with a jug. On the left a three-legged stool lies on the floor. Described from a mezzotint by Jan van Somer (Wessely, 100). 855. SKITTLE-PLAYERS OUTSIDE AN INN. Sm. 115, and Suppl. 59. At the door of a village inn on the right stands the hostess, holding a child ; she gives a jug to a peasant standing on the left, who drinks. In the centre foreground stands a peasant almost in profile to the left, holding a jug in his left hand which hangs down ; he speaks to a man seated at his side. On a little bench in front of them are an earthenware jug, a glass, and a clay pipe. On the left are the skittles ; a peasant swings the ball as if about to throw it ; another man, who is looking on, stands on a piece of grass to the left of the skittle-alley. Farther back is a little boy with a hoop and a dog. In the middle dis- tance are peasants carousing. At the back is a village street, with the church and some trees. The picture looks earlier than the date 1676 would suggest. A water-colour drawing of the same subject, dated 1673, is in the Albertina, Vienna. [Probably identical with 858^.] Signed in full, and dated 1676 ; canvas, i6| inches by 20 inches. A copy, ascribed by the owner to C. Dusart, is in the Chiaramonte Bor- denaro collection, Palermo. Engraved by Fittler in the Stafford Gallery, No. 51. Sale. Jan Gildemeester Jansz, Amsterdam, June li, 1800, No. 161 (1820 florins, W. Reyers). In the collection of the Marquess of Stafford, London, 1829 (Sm.). In the collection of Lord Francis Egerton, London, 1842 (Sm., who valued it at 420). In the collection of the Earl of Ellesmere, Bridgewater House, London, 1892 catalogue, No. 166. 856. PEASANTS PLAYING SKITTLES. Sm. 62 and 120. On the right-hand side of the back court of a country inn is a skittle- alley with a thatched roof; two men are playing in the foreground ; the alley runs back into the picture. At the back a third man looks on, with two others. At two tables in front of the house numerous persons stand or sit. In the centre foreground a peasant sits on a bench, smoking a pipe. Beside him to the right two children are at play. To the left, on a little piece of turf, are the stump of a tree and three pieces of linen laid out to dry. On the extreme left is a golf course. A fine picture. In the British Museum Print Room there are two sketches for this picture. One is lightly drawn in pen and wash ; the other is worked up in colour, and dated 1677. To the left of each sketch is a dog, which is wanting in the picture. A third drawing in the Amsterdam Print Room (Moes, No. 58) appears to have been made from the picture. Signed in full on the right ; panel, 13 inches by i8| inches. Mentioned by Ch. Blanc, Le Tresor de la Curiosite, i. 194, 379-80, and ii. 112, 332 ; and by Waagen, ii. 274. Engraved by B. A. Dunker, in the Choiseul Gallery, No. 17. Exhibited at the British Institution, London, 1818 and 1845; at the Royal