1652
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Peasant Family Entertained by a Fiddler with a Hunchback is a 1652 ink by Adriaen van Ostade, a Baroque work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This etching shows a small, cluttered room with a wooden table and chairs. A fiddler plays music while a family of four—an older couple and two children—gathers around, listening. Outside, a hunchbacked man leans on a stick, watching the scene. The buildings and trees in the background are drawn with quick, sketchy lines. The artist used a technique called etching to create the texture and shading you see. This method involves scratching into a metal plate covered in wax, then dipping it in acid to eat away the lines. Look up etching to see how this process works.
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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