1652
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Pigkillers is a 1652 by Adriaen van Ostade, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This black-and-white drawing shows a group of people working together in a dim, wooded area. One person is butchering a pig on the ground, while others stand around holding tools or buckets. The scene looks messy and busy, with trees and bushes in the background. Notice how the artist uses strong light and shadow to make the figures stand out against the dark forest. This helps show the hard work happening in the scene. Next, look up chiaroscuro to see how this lighting trick works in other 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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