The Anglers
Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685) etching The Anglers, circa 1647, Godefry 26, Bartsch 26. Very good condition, with small (1/2 inch) margins, on cream laid paper, archival mounting. 4 1/2 x 6 5/8 inches.
A fine, rich impression of the sixth state of seven.
This state appears identical to Godefry’s fifth state, but the borderline appears a bit stronger than that pictured in Godefry, so we’ve taken a conservative position and assigned it as sixth state. But the horizontal lines in the sky upper right are printing quite well as in the earlier states, and the inking is quite rich and black, with details fine. Godefroy notes that 5th state impressions of The Anglers were included in the Picart edition.
Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685) specialized in scenes of individuals indoors, but in the few etchings he made of the outdoors he displayed mastery. In The Anglers on a Bridge, perhaps influenced by his contemporaries Rembrandt, and the landscape specialist Ruysdael, Van Ostade focuses on the landscape, the bridge and the water, not the two tiny figures on the bridge.