306 ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE SECT. 540/>. An Inn Room, with Peasants, a Fiddler, and a Singer. Engraved by Willem dc Broen. 541. PEASANTS DANCING AT AN INN. In the foreground of an inn room, which is lighted from the left, a peasant and a woman are dancing. The man wears ahat, : a yellow blouse, and white breeches ; the woman wears a red dress, a white apron, and a grey jacket. To the right are a bagpiper and, on a platform, a fiddler. Beside and behind them are peasants and women at tables and round a cask smoking and drinking. Golden in tone. Signed in full on the right, and dated 1637 ; panel, 20 inches by 26 inches. In the Gerhardt collection, Budapest ; purchased about the year 1894. 542. A RUSTIC COUPLE DANCING AT AN INN. Sm. 138. In the centre a rustic couple dance to the music of a fiddler who stands on a bench to the right. The man dancing is barefooted ; he holds his hat in his right hand, and with his left grasps the right hand of his partner, who rests her left hand on her hip. On the left a boy plays with a dog ; and a girl, seated on the floor with her back to the spectator, nurses .a doll. Farther to the right is an overturned stool ; near it are a leafy branch and the dancer's wooden shoes. On the extreme right, a man sits looking on. Behind him stands a woman holding a beer-glass, close to another man who lays his left hand on her shoulder and raises his hat with his right hand. Other spectators are grouped round the dancers. Through an open door at the back is seen a distant landscape. A good picture. " This capital picture is remarkable for its powerful colouring and effect ; and although it was painted in the sixty-fifth year of the artist's age, yet the same careful finishing pervades every part as any of his earlier works possess " (Sm.). [Compare 548.] Signed, and dated 1675 ; panel, 17 inches by 14! inches. Mentioned by Waagen, ii. 451. Exhibited at the British Institution, London, 1815. In the Calonne collection (Sm.). [Compare 548.] Sales. Edward Coxe, London, April 23, 1807 (372 : 5s.). John Dent, London, April 28, 1827 (488 : 55., Nieuwenhuys). In the collection of Richard Foster, Clewer Manor, 1829 (Sm.). Sales. Richard Foster, Clewer Manor, June 3, 1876 (^3780, Rutter). Prince Demidoff, San Donate, Florence, March 15, 1880, No. 1109. In the possession of the Paris dealer Durand-Ruel. In the Chicago Art Institute, 1908 catalogue, No. I. 543. PEASANTS DANCING AT AN INN. Sm. 7. In the centre of a large room a rustic couple dance to the music of a fiddler stand- ing at the back to the left. At a table to the left, peasants smoke and drink. One sits on the table with his foot on the bench ; another, seated on the bench to the right and farther back, turns half-round. In front on the floor lie an overturned three-legged stool, a dog, a branch, and some cards. In front of the table to the left two children play with a doll. At the back, through doors which are thrown open, is a view of a landscape.
