Provenance
Van Tol collection; (sale, Souterwoude [near Leiden], 15 June 1779, no. 13);[1] Wubbels. Jean Etienne Fiseau (variously spelled Fiseau, Fezeau, or Fiziau), Amsterdam; his widow, Mme Jean Etienne Fiseau [née Marie Anne Massé, d. 1790]; (her estate sale, by Philippe van der Schley et al., Amsterdam, 30-31 August 1797, no. 165); (Jan de Bosch, Jeronimusz, Amsterdam). Guillaume-Joseph, baron de Brienen van de Grootelindt [d. 1839], Amsterdam, by 1842; by inheritance to his son, Arnold-Willem, baron de Brienen van de Grootelindt [d. 1854]; by inheritance to his son, Guillaume-Thierry-Arnaud [or Arnold or Armand]-Marie, baron de Brienen van de Grootelindt [d. 1863], Amsterdam;[2] (his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 8-9 May 1865, no. 23); (Nieuwenhuys).[3] Marquis H. de V., Paris;[4] (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 5-6 June 1871, 2nd day, no. 218); Comte Henri Greffulhe [1848-1932], Paris; (his estate sale, Sotheby & Co., London, 22 July 1937, no. 74); (Roland & Delbanco, London); sold 1939 to Adolf Mayer, The Hague. (Edward Speelman, London). private collection, England. (Duits Gallery, London); sold 1968 to (Christian Humann, Paris and New York); sold 1973 to Dr. Claus Virch, Paris; sold July 1977 to (Brod Gallery, London);[5] purchased by Richard A. and Lee G. Kirstein, Washington, D.C.; gift (partial and promised) January 1991 to NGA; gift completed July 1991.
[1] In 1779, Hendrick Meyer (1744-1793) made a drawn copy of the painting (Amsterdam Historisch Museum, inv. no. A 10716), either when it was in Van Tol’s collection or at the time of the painting’s sale. See Ingrid Oud and Leonoor van Oosterzee, _Nederlandse Tekenaars geboren tussen 1660 en 1745_, Amsterdam and Zwolle, 1999: 120.
[2] The lacquer seal on the rear of the panel carries the heraldic crest of the De Brienen van de Grootelindt family. Genealogical information on the family was provided by the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, The Hague.
[3] According to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the NGA Library. This could have been either C.J. Nieuwenhuys, who was based in Brussels (and later London), or his brother, François Nieuwenhuys, who was in Paris.
[4] This was possibly Antoine-Marie-Albert Héron de Villefosse (1845-1919).
[5] Dr. Virch, in his letter to Arthur Wheelock of 4 June 1991 (in NGA curatorial files), provided the provenance of the painting from the Duits Gallery to the Brod Gallery. However, his information is at odds with the Duits Gallery Records, according to which Duits sold the picture on 30 July 1970 to “Mertens” (Box 38, no. 1946, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles).
Accession Number
1991.64.1
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
overall: 66 x 58.4 cm (26 x 23 in.) | framed: 94.9 x 86.7 x 7 cm (37 3/8 x 34 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Richard A. and Lee G. Kirstein, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Panel Painting Dutch
Background & Context
Background Story
Workmen before an Inn from 1645 is another example of Isack van Ostade's outdoor genre scenes, depicting workmen resting before an inn with the combination of genre detail and atmospheric landscape that distinguishes his best work. The 1645 date places this in the same productive period as The Halt at the Inn, and the two paintings demonstrate the range of outdoor genre subjects that Isack developed before his early death. The workmen and their horses, the inn and its signage, and the landscape beyond are all rendered with the precise observation of Dutch social life that makes genre painting such an invaluable document of 17th-century Dutch society.
Cultural Impact
Workmen before an Inn demonstrates the range of Isack van Ostade's outdoor genre subjects and the precise observation of Dutch social life that makes his paintings invaluable documents of 17th-century Dutch society. The workmen, their horses, the inn, and the landscape all provide specific information about Dutch social customs and the appearance of the Dutch countryside that complements the literary descriptions of the period.
Why It Matters
Workmen before an Inn is Isack van Ostade's outdoor genre with social documentary precision: workmen, horses, and an inn rendered with the precise observation that makes Dutch genre painting invaluable for understanding 17th-century Dutch social life. The 1645 painting records the appearance of the Dutch countryside with the detail of a visual document.