1668
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
The Carol Singers is a 1668 by Adriaen van Ostade, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This black-and-white etching shows two rough-looking men peering through a narrow doorway. One holds a candle, the other a piece of paper. Their clothes are baggy, their faces wrinkled, and the light catches their hands and the rough wood around them. The scene looks like a quiet moment in a crowded alley, with a rooftop and chimneys visible above. The artist used deep shadows and sharp lines to make the figures stand out against the dark background. Next, check out chiaroscuro to see how light and shadow create drama in art.
Adriaen van Ostade (baptized as Adriaen Jansz Hendricx 10 December 1610 – buried 2 May 1685) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, showing the everyday life of ordinary men and women.
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