Adriaen van Ostade’s etching, “Laughing Pipe Smoker”, c1672

Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685)

“Laughing Pipe Smoker” (TIB title) (aka “Le Fumeur Riant” [Bartsch title]; “Smoker Leaning on the Back of a Chair” [Godefroy title]; “Smoking Farmer with his Arm over the Back of a Chair” [Rijksmuseum]), c1652 (1650–1654 [Rijksmuseum dates]), after a drawing by Adriaen van Ostade.

Etching on ochre coloured laid paper, trimmed with a small margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 11.5 x 10 cm; (plate) 10.6 x 9 cm.

Inscribed in plate below the image borderline: (left) “A Ostade”.

State v (of vi) with the corners of the plate rounded, but before (following Godefroy’s [1990] advice) “a small curved, horizontal line on the edge of the hat at the left” (p. 52).

TIB 1.6 (Leonard J Slatkes [ed.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists”, vol. 1, Abaris Books, New York, p. 329, cat. no. 6[-1]); Godefroy 6 (Louis Godefroy 1990, “The Complete Etchings of Adriaen Van Ostade”, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy, pp. 51–52, cat. 6).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “A man seated at a table directed to right, holding a pipe, leaning on the back of a chair/ Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Sheepshanks-1408).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.38821.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with small margins and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. Beyond a few dot marks (see left edge), the sheet is in a very good condition for its age, with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this superb etching exemplifying Van Ostade’s amazing skill and insightful understanding of everyday folk’s mannerisms that give life to his rural characters—see for example, the subtle twist to the angle that the pipe is held capturing how a listener might “toy” with a pipe when fully engaged with listening to a story, going further, the ever so slight raising of the smoker's left eyebrow in response to a good tale being told and the tiny downward mark on the left side of his mouth animating the old chap’s DAO (depressor anguli oris) muscles that captures his age and expression of interest in what is being said—for the total cost of AU$337 (currently/approximately US$227.20/EUR208.37/GBP175.12 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$337) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this gem of a character study by one of the major Dutch Old Masters, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.