The Breakfast (Le Gourmet en Compagnie)
Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685), The Breakfast (Le Gourmet en Compagnie), etching, c. 1647-52. References: Godefry, Hollstein 50. Seventh state (of 12). On cream laid paper, in very good condition, with margins (tiny loss upper left outside of platemark, collector’s stamp verso showing through slightly bottom left below image), no watermark discernible, 8 1/2 x 10 1/4, the sheet 8 15/16 x 11. Archival mounting.
A fine early delicately printed impression. Godefry observes that impressions of this early (lifetime) state are “tres rare.”
Provenance: ex Collection Dr. S. William Pelletier (with his stamp verso, and dated by him as acquired 11/15/99). ex Collection ES (with the colored initials stamp verso, possibly Emilio Santarelli, cf. Lugt 907). Also in graphite “K&K” with the date 5-6-’59, possibly referring to the auction house of Kornfeld and Klipstein, Bern. Dr. Pelletier was one of the most eminent of old master – particularly Rembrandt and Van Ostade - collectors.
The Breakfast is one of Van Ostade’s greatest accomplishments in printmaking. It is his second largest print, after the Dance in a Tavern. The background patterning of The Breakfast is extraordinarily detailed and rich, and the composition of figures at the center is moving and alive. At the left a child helps a younger child drink, as a cat watches and the five adults to their right engage in a frenzy of drinking and conversation.
The Latin at the bottom, which was added by Ostade (we know this because he maintained control of all his plates during his lifetime), is translated: “We spend time for an untroubled table. After a lengthy wait, a fair day comes.” This suggests that despite the drinking, clutter, and the playing cards on the ground Ostade was portraying an essentially sympathetic view of peasant life (it’s not, however clear that these people are in fact a family, or that they’re eating breakfast!). The picture at the left on the wall depicts the Old Testament story of Tobias and the Angel.
The Breakfast went through 12 states, the last 3 being posthumous. In this seventh state the borderline was strengthened, but the cross-hatching lines from left to right under the bench have yet to be added. The etching lines are relatively strong despite the great delicacy of the close work.