Haarlem 1610 – Haarlem 1685
Interior of a Barn with Peasants – An allegory of smell Signed and dated ‘1637’ | Middle centre
Oil on panelH. 17 cm. | W. 24 cm.
PROVENANCEPrivate collection | Europe
REFERENCE LITERATUREKrol, A.E. (1981). Musée de l’Ermitage. Peinture de l’Europe occidentale. Leningrad: Hermitage, Vol. II, p. 155
CATALOGUE NOTEIn his charming and amusing painting Adriaen van Ostade, like his contemporaries David Teniers the Younger and Adriaen Brouwer, depicted a scene of the everyday life of the peasant class. At the same time it forms an allegory, that of the sense of smell. A variation on this compsition by Van Ostade is kept in the collection of the Hermitage, Saint Petersburg (inv.nr. 999).