OSTADE, van, Dutch family of artists

Adriaen van Ostade and his brother Isaack van Ostade were among the eight children of Jan Hendricx van Eyndhoven, probably a linen-weaver, and Janneke Hendriksen, both of whom had moved to Haarlem from the Eindhoven area. In an active career that spanned more than 50 years, Adriaen became one of the most prolific Dutch artists of the 17th century. In his principal speciality, peasant and low-life genre painting, he enjoyed a leading position and considerable influence. Isaack, in the course of a brief but active career of only 11 years, produced an extraordinary volume of work, quite as original and varied as Adriaen's, including some outstanding winter landscapes. Once he had attained artistic maturity, he began to exert an influence of his own on his elder brother, who was apparently his first teacher. Both artists were prolific and accomplished draughtsmen.




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