Chapter III

Let us now consider the etchings themselves. There are just fifty in all, and nine or perhaps ten of the number are dated. The earliest date is 1647, the latest 1678. Arranging the dated plates in order of time, we get the following table. The references are to the numbers in Bartsch, _Peintre-Graveur_, Vol. I.:--

1647.

The Hurdy-Gurdy Player. B. 8. The Barn. B. 23. The Family. B. 46.

1648.

The Father of the Family. B. 33.

1652.

The Wife Spinning. B. 31.

1653.

The Tavern Brawl. B. 18. Saying Grace. B. 34.

1671.

The Cobbler. B. 27.

1678.[1]

The Child and the Doll. B. 16.

To this may possibly be added _The Humpbacked Fiddler_ (B. 44). Neither Bartsch nor Dutuit appears to have noticed a date on this plate; but it seems clear that it is there, following the signature, though obscured by lines. The writer inclines to decipher it as 1631 or 1651; but it is impossible to be positive on the point. These data would doubtless serve many critics with material for constructing a chronological list of the whole of the etchings. But this amusement shall be left to the reader. The etchings, as a matter of fact, do not present any marked variety of treatment. Ostade was not, like Rembrandt, a master of many styles; nor did he develop any particular style by continually surpassing his own successes. We can only say that he seems to have attained his greatest mastery in a middle period, about 1650. _The Wife Spinning_ of 1652 is not followed by any dated piece that at all rivals it. _The Cobbler_ of 1671, for instance, which was a failure in the first biting, betrays also a certain languor of handling, very different from the inexhaustible care and skill bestowed on the earlier plate.

This inference is confirmed by what we know of Ostade’s work on canvas. His first period dates from 1630 to 1635; then follows a middle period in which, influenced by Rembrandt, he adopted a warmer scheme of colour; lastly, in a third period, he began to repeat himself and decline.

Beyond such general deductions it does not seem worth while to go. In Rembrandt’s case the question of chronology is of extreme interest and significance, but in Ostade there is no development to speak of, and to labour after exhibiting it would be waste of time.

Next, as to the various states of the etchings. The reverence for first states and rare states, common to collectors, has from their point of view its own justification; but they are apt perhaps sometimes to confuse the æsthetic value of a print with its market value. Artists, on the other hand, are sometimes prone to dismiss the whole question of states as tedious and absurd. It is, however, of great importance that the etcher should be judged on his own merits and not on the merits, or demerits, of other people. Ostade undoubtedly made alterations in his plates during printing and thus created “states”; but many more states were created after his death by other hands re-working the worn copper.

It is reasonable to suppose that the last state touched by the artist is the one that he would wish to be taken as typical of his perfect work.

But the question arises: Which is the last state touched by the artist?

The work of later hands, added to a plate after the artist’s death, does not concern us; but the development of the etching up to that state when the artist leaves it as a finished thing, must interest us greatly. How are we to decide?

In the case of Ostade, we are helped a little by external data. As we

have seen, the plates were sold at his death in 1685. We know also that they were sold again by their new possessor, Dirk van der Stoel, Ostade’s son-in-law, in 1686; and eight years later again, in 1694. What state they were in then we can only conjecture: but we may infer something from what we know to have been their state in 1710 or a little later.

In the year just mentioned a French engraver, Bernard Picart, arrived in Holland; and some time after his arrival he published a collection of the etched work of Ostade and of his pupil Bega. The book of Ostade’s etchings was bought, perhaps on its publication, by Hans Sloane: and through him it has passed into the possession of the British Museum. Whoever examines it will notice at once the inequality of the plates: some are worn and harshly retouched, some are passable, a few are even good. Something of this is due to the delicately-worked plates, giving out sooner than those more coarsely etched. Probably also some were more in demand than others. Thus, to take a few examples: while _The Painter in His Studio_ (B. 32) is in the tenth and last state, and _Peasant Paying His Reckoning_ (B. 42) is in the seventh or last but one, _The Dance in the Tavern_ (B. 49) is in the fourth out of seven states in all, and _The Empty Jug_ (B. 15) in the fourth out of eight states in all. And several of the smaller plates are still in the second state.

In determining therefore the extent to which later hands have worked on the etchings, each must be considered separately. Only in a few cases, probably, are those in Picart’s edition still in the condition left by the master himself; and most seem to have been retouched more than once. Every one will judge for himself the precise point at which new work comes in: and opinion will always differ on such questions. As Ostade was not always successful in his first biting, the second state is generally the most representative. _Peasant Paying His Reckoning_ is a very different thing in Picart’s edition from the brilliant second state of the same etching.

The student of Ostade will find Dutuit’s book[2] indispensable: it contains all that was known of the etchings and their different impressions up to the year of its publication. And the author’s own collection was perhaps unrivalled. Nevertheless, it is not perfect. The states are described with an extraordinary superfluity of detail, and the one or two differentiating circumstances are buried in a mass of irrelevant description. Verification is therefore a matter of time and labour.

There are also a few states still undescribed. Still, for those who have an appetite for “states,” Dutuit is very satisfying.