2. ISACK VAN OSTADE (1621-1649) was born in Haarlem, and began his studies under Adriaen. At an early period he felt the influence of Rembrandt, and this is apparent in a "Slaughtered Pig" of 1639, in the gallery of Augsburg. A specimen of Isaac's work when under the influence of his brother may be seen in the "Laughing Boor with a Pot of Beer" (1643), in the museum of Amsterdam. The low price he received for such subjects—in which he could only hope to remain a satellite of Adriaen—led him to prefer landscapes in the fashion of Esaias Van de Velde and Salomon Ruisdael. He died young and was buried at Haarlem on Oct. 16, 1649, having painted about 340 pictures. (See H. de Groot, 191o.) The first manifestation of Isack's surrender of Adriaen's style is apparent in 1644 when the skating and sledging scenes were executed which are in the Lacaze collection and the galleries of the Hermitage, Antwerp and Lille. Three of these examples bear the artist's name, spelt Isack van Ostade, and the dates of and 1645. The roadside inns, with halts of travellers, form a com pact series from 1646 to 1649. In this, the last form of his art, Isaac has very distinct peculiarities. The air which pervades his composition is warm and sunny, yet mellow and hazy, as if the sky were veiled with a vapour coloured by moor smoke. The trees are
rubbings of umber, in which the prominent foliage is tipped with touches hardened in a liquid state by amber varnish mediums. It is in winter scenes that Isack displays the best qualities. The absence of foliage and crisp atmosphere, preclude the use of the brown tinge, and leave the painter no choice but to ring the changes on opal tints of great variety, upon which the figures emerge with masterly effect on the light background upon which they are thrown. Amongst the roadside inns which will best repay attention may be noted those of Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery, the Wallace collections in England, and those of the Louvre, Berlin, Hermitage and Rotterdam museums and the Rothschild collection at Vienna on the Continent. The finest of the ice scenes is the famous one at the Louvre.