308 ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE SECT. Signed in full, and dated 1652 ; panel, 25 inches by 23 inches. Mentioned by Descamps ; and by Ch. Blanc, Le Tresor de la Curiosite, ii. 2 93- Sm. notes that J. Suyderhoef engraved a similar subject ; the Higginson catalogue of 1842 identified that print with this picture ; but the original of the print is 544. Sales. Rijersbergen van Cauwerven, Leyden, July 31, 1765, No. 40 (1650 florins) ; it was in this collection in 1752 (Hoet, ii. 537). Gerard Braamcamp, Amsterdam, July 31, 1771, No. 151 (1700 florins, P. Fouquet). Servad, Amsterdam, July 25, 1778, No. 60 (2430 florins, Fouquet). Clos, Paris, November 18, 1812 (6051 francs, Lerouge). Dufresne, Paris, March 1 6, 1816 (12,000 francs). Delahante, London, 1821 (^493 : ios.). Lapeyriere, Paris, April 19, 1825 (15,320 francs). In the Boursault collection, Paris, 1829 (Sm.) ; bought as a whole by the dealer Artaria in 1835 for Edmund Higginson of Saltmarsh Castle ; this picture was No. 124 in the Higginson catalogue of 1842. Sales. Edmund Higginson, London, June 4, 1846 (997 : ios.). Edmund Higginson, London, 1860 (800, Nieuwenhuys). J. C. Nieuwenhuys, London, 1861. Oppenheim, London, 1864 (735, Nieuwenhuys). Fran9ois Nieuwenhuys, Paris. B[lin], Paris, February 26, 1874, No. 43. Prince DemidofF, San Donato, March 15, 1880, No. 1134. Ad. Jos. B5sch, Vienna, April 28, 1885, No. 40 (22,100 florins, Kohlbacher). In the possession of the Paris dealer Durand-Ruel. In the collection of the late C. T. Yerkes, New York, 1904 catalogue, No. 71. 546. VILLAGERS MERRYMAKING AT AN INN. Sm. Suppl. 52. In the centre a young couple dance to the music of a fiddler standing in the right background. To left and right are peasants looking on. In the right foreground sits a woman in blue, with a little girl standing beside her. An old peasant stands to the right before her, leaning with her left elbow on the back of a chair ; she points with her left hand to the dancers. In the left foreground a young peasant in a red jacket and black cap sits on a low stool, with his back to the spectator. To the left of him, and farther back, another man tries to embrace a woman sitting on a chair. In the right middle distance steps lead up to the entrance door, at which a man and woman and another man come in. In the centre foreground is an overturned stool. About nineteen figures in all. Signed, and dated 1652 ; panel, i6| inches by 22 inches. Etched in reverse by A. van Ostade himself, B. 49. Sales. T. Emmerson, London, 1829 (^215 : 55.). Tardieu the younger, Paris, March 31, 1841. Th. Patureau, Paris, April 20, 1857, No. 21. In the collection of the Marquis de Saint Cloud, Paris. Sale. Alphonse Oudry, Paris, April 17, 1869, No. 49.
