1653
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Peasants Outside an Inn Entertained by Musicians with a Flute and a Drum is a 1653 ink by Adriaen van Ostade, a Baroque work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This etching shows a group of rough-looking people outside a weathered wooden building. A few are standing close together, listening to two musicians—one playing a drum, the other a flute. Inside the dimly lit windows, more figures watch from behind lattice panels. The scene feels lively but a little tense, with muddy ground and a leaning tree adding to the rough mood. The artist used sharp lines and shading to make the scene pop off the page. This isn’t paint—it’s ink pressed into paper, a technique that lets details stand out in black and white. Next, check out etching, drypoint, aquatint to see how artists like this one create texture with ink.
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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