x ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE 299 In the collection of W. Smith, M.P., London, 1819; sold privately (for 262 : I os. Sm. afterwards offered 367 : los. for it, but was refused). In the collection of the Chevalier Erard, Paris, 1829 (Sm.). Sales. Chevalier S6bastien Erard, Paris, April 23, 1832, No. 103 (10,020 francs). Vrancken, Lokeren, 1838, No. 12 (13,000 francs, Due d'Arenberg). In the collection of the Due d'Arenberg, Brussels ; W. Burger's 1859 catalogue, No. 45. 518. PEASANTS SINGING AND PLAYING MUSIC. Of the early period. In the Azam collection, Bordeaux. 519. PEASANTS AT MUSIC IN AN INTERIOR. Sm. 200, and Suppl. 1 28. Round a table, near a large window on the left, are four peasants and a woman. The nearest man sits, with his back to the spectator, on a bench, at the left end of which lies his clay pipe. To the left of him, and farther back, a second man dressed in red stands playing the fiddle. To the right of him sit a third man and a woman, singing from a sheet of music which both hold. Behind them stands a man with a pipe in his right hand. In the right background, before the hearth, are other figures, half in shadow. Signed, and dated 1656; panel, 17 inches by 21 inches. Mentioned by Waagen, ii. 13 ; and by W. Burger, Tresors d* Art en Angle- terre, p. 314. Exhibited at the British Institution, London, 1826 and 1827; and at Manchester, 1857, No. 730. Sale. Sir Joshua Reynolds, London, March 13, 1794, No. 125 probably, according to Sm. In the Baring collection, according to Btirger ; but he probably confused it with 766. In the Royal collection, Buckingham Palace, London, No. 54 ; it was in the Royal collection in 1829 (Sm.). 520. PEASANTS AT MUSIC. In the left centre of a spacious barn a peasant stands with his right foot on a wooden stool, playing the fiddle. In the centre foreground a hurdy-gurdy player sits on a low box ; he wears a felt hat with a small feather stuck through the back brim. He turns his head round towards the background, where a peasant couple are singing, close to a cask serving as a table. The man singing sits, holding a sheet of music in both hands ; the woman, wearing a white cap, stands beside him to the left and bends forward to look at the music, while with her right hand raised she beats time. At the back, between the woman and the fiddler, is another figure, with a pewter pot on the floor to the left and a dog behind. In the right foreground is a metal pot, with other accessories. An early work ; the figures are in full light, while the rest of the scene is in shadow. Attributed in the catalogue to Isack van Ostade. Panel, 8 inches by 16 inches. In the Prado Gallery, Madrid, 1907 catalogue, No. 1517. 521. THE FIDDLER AMONG PEASANTS. Sm. 196, and Suppl. 117. Round a table are two men and a woman. They look at a
