Boors smoking and drinking in an interior

Adriaen van Ostade started his career, together with the shortlived Adriaen Brouwer (d. 1636), in the 1620s in the studio of Frans Hals. He developed his theme of parties of peasants in their village surroundings from those pioneered by Brouwer. The present work, with its soft pinks and pale blues, is characteristic of Ostade's early work, circa 1633.

We are grateful to Mr. Fred Meijer of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorisches Documentatie, The Hague, for confirming the attribution from a transparency.