146 ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE SECT. CATALOGUE RAISONNE 1. THE ANGELS APPEARING TO THE SHEPHERDS. A road runs from the right foreground to the left background. Beside it to the left, in shadow, are part of the flock, with a cow and two goats, standing or lying down. One shepherd, in a green doublet, lies asleep on the road to the right. Another kneels behind him and raises his hands in adoration of an angel appearing out of dark clouds above to the left. Behind the kneeling man is a woman with a black cap in a wooden hut. Farther to the left are another shepherd and a cringing boy, with cattle and sheep. In the right foreground a dog seems to be barking at the angel. A very interesting picture of the early period. The light and shade is very much in the style of Rembrandt. There is little local colour ; the tones are almost all yellowish-brown. Signed in full on the right at foot ; panel, 27^ inches by 22 inches. From Salzdahlum. Probably identical with "The Nativity " in a sale : Amsterdam, August 31, 1740 (Hoet, ii. 8), No. 14 (635 florins). In the Brunswick Picture Gallery, 1900 catalogue, No. 300. 2. THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. Sm. 203, and Suppl. 1 02. In a large rustic interior the Virgin, seated on the left, looks at the Child lying on straw in a manger beside her. Four shepherds, a woman, and a child surround the manger in adoration. Joseph, holding a book, stands behind the Virgin and looks at the Child. Farther back, near an open arched doorway, are two figures with an ass. To the left, behind the shepherds, is a cow. " This admirable picture was painted in the artist's most successful time, and is finished with extraordinary care and brilliancy of colour," says Sm., who conjectures that the painter and his wife served as models for Joseph and the Virgin, and that other members of his family sat for the other figures. Signed in full on the left, and dated 1667 or, according to Waagen, 1669 ; panel, 1 8 inches by 16 inches. Mentioned by Ch. Blanc, Le Tresor de la Curiosife, ii. 396 ; and by Waagen, Suppl. 296. Exhibited at Manchester, 1857, No. 1702 ; at the Royal Academy Winter Exhibition, London, 1882, No. 91; and at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1900, No. 42. In the collection of Madame Reuver of Delft, sold as a whole (for 40,000 florins) in 1750 to the Landgraf of Hessen-Kassel. In the Schloss Altstadt, Kassel, 1783 inventory, No. 60. In the collection of the Empress Josephine, Malmaison, 1808. Purchased at the Malmaison sale by Delahante, and sold to John Webb, who sold it to the Chevalier Erard, 1823. In the collection of the Chevalier Sebastien Erard, Paris, 1829 (Sm., who valued it at 1050).
