(Haarlem 1610–1685)
Peasants playing cards,
signed with monogram lower left: AV O,
oil on panel, 27.6 x 21.9 cm, framed

Provenance:
T. Emmerson, London (1842);
Comte R. de Cornelissen, Brussels;
his sale, Brussels, 11 May 1857, lot 57;
sale, Gilkinet, Paris, 18 April 1863, lot 33;
sale, J. A. Tardieu, Paris, 10/11 May 1867, lot 41;
Collection Josef Ritter Lippmann von Lissingen (1827–1900), Vienna;
his sale, Paris, 16 March 1876, lot 32;
B. Field, London (1888);
thence by descent to George Field;
his estate sale, Christie’s, London, 10 June 1893, lot 30;
with M. Colnaghi, London;
with Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1894;
anonymous sale, Frederik Muller & Cie., Amsterdam, 30 April 1907, lot 136;
Henri Lehman, Paris;
his sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 12/13 June 1925, lot 274;
H. Becker, Dortmund, 1954;
with Alfred Brod, London, 1958;
Collection of June (1916–2014) and Henry (1905–2008) Weldon, New York;
their sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 4 June 2015, lot 68

<Exhibited:</b>
Vienna, Österreichische Galerie, Gemälde Alter Meister aus Wiener Privatbesitz, 1873, no. 171;
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy Exhibition, 1888, no. 115;
Dortmund, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Ausstellung Meisterwerke alter Malerei, 1954, no. 145;
London, Alfred Brod Gallery, Annual Autumn Exhibition of Old Masters, 1958, no. 36;
Providence, Rhode Island, Rhode Island School of Design, Northern Baroque Paintings and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Weldon, 1964, no. 17;
Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown Art Museum, Seventeenth Century Painters of Haarlem, 1965, no. 54;
New York, Finch College Museum of Art, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Weldon, 1966, no. 27;
Birmingham, Birmingham Museum of Art, The Golden Age of Dutch Painting, 1995, no. 14;
New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans Museum of Art, In the Eye of the Beholder: Northern Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, 1997, no. 35;
Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, An Eye for Detail: 17th-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, 1999, no. 34

Literature:
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné…, vol. I, London 1829, cat. no. 111;
Charles Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris, Catalogue of 100 Paintings, Paris 1894, cat. no. 27;
C. Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné…, vol. III, London 1910, cat. no. 850;
Der Cicerone, vol. 17, 1925, p. 152; N. T. Minty (ed.), In the Eye of the Beholder: Northern Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, exhibition catalogue, New Orleans 1997, cat. no. 35;
N. T. Minty and J. Spicer (eds.), An Eye for Detail, 17th-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings from the Collection of Henry H. Weldon, exhibition catalogue, Baltimore 1999, cat. no. 34

A dendrochronological examination of the present panel (the first ring of which was formed in 1639) is available on request. Allowing for a minimum of sapwood, the earliest estimated felling date is 1646, and assuming a minimum of two years for seasoning, the earliest creation of the panel is possible from 1648 upwards.

We are grateful to Hiltraud Doll for confirming that this is an autograph work by Adriaen van Ostade, which will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist’s work.