Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 3, 1910.djvu/452

 438 ISACK VAN OSTADE SECT. ice or at the edge of a frozen canal. In both groups he displays his full power in elaborate compositions, often of considerable size and measuring as much as 40 inches by 52 inches, which in this respect surpass his brother's cabinet-pieces. He paints with the utmost vivacity the peasant life as seen in the village street or on the ice which was the winter highway. He displays much skill in arranging his groups, and in combining houses, barns, and churches with trees, either singly or in clumps. As a rule, he breaks the line of houses, going away diagonally into the picture, with a tall tree. His skies are unusually clear. His distances show a delicate aerial perspective. As a rule his colouring is powerful and includes strong local tints that attract the eye. But many of his early pictures, especially the winter scenes, are kept in a subdued brownish-grey tone, which reminds one of the older generation of Haarlem landscape- painters. Among his favourite local colours is the brilliant white of a grey horse, which he introduces at least as often as Wouwerman does. Probably Wouwerman adopted this motive from Isack, who was the elder. The fresh green of the trees helps to make the colouring of Isack's pictures effective. In variety of theme Isack was far poorer than his elder brother Adriaen. But this verdict would be reversed if one compared Isack's work with that done by Adriaen up to the age of twenty-eight. It would indeed be unfair to put on the same level the life-work of Isack, which barely covered ten years, and that of Adriaen, who was painting for half a century. Isack did not use the etching-needle ; his fine drawings are sketched with a pen and lightly washed. He is not known to have painted water-colours like those of Adriaen. PUPILS AND IMITATORS OF ISACK VAN OSTADE Isack van Ostade, dying at the age of twenty - eight, founded no school in the ordinary sense, so far as we know. Yet his influence on many Haarlem painters is unmistakable. One may cite, for instance, the introduction of his favourite grey horse into the pictures of Philips Wouwerman, as already mentioned. The following painters, some of whom are very little known, have their works often presented under the name of Isack van Ostade. The list includes both those artists whose discipleship may be inferred if not proved, and those whose resemblance to him is only superficial and accidental. To distinguish between a special class of early works by Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685) interiors with a harsh effect of light and a pre- vailing yellow tone and similar pieces by his brother still forms one of the difficult problems which face the student of Dutch art. It is a problem that even in this volume cannot be finally solved. Only by the careful comparison of a large number of authentic signed pictures by the brothers can all uncertainty be removed. It is easier to separate from Isack's works the more coarsely painted peasant scenes of BENJAMIN CUYP (1612-1652). He shows a greater