“Woodcutter and Children” in the gallery of Cassel. Innumerable
almost are the more familiar themes to which he devoted his brush
during this interval, from small single figures, representing smokers
or drinkers, to vulgarized allegories of the five senses (Hermitage
and Brunswick galleries), half-lengths of fishmongers and bakers
and cottage brawls, or scenes of gambling, or itinerant players and
quacks, and nine-pin players in the open air. The humour in some
of these pieces is contagious, as in the “Tavern Scene” of the
Lacaze collection (Louvre, 1653). His art may be studied in the
large series of dated pieces which adorn every European capital,
from St Petersburg to London. Buckingham Palace has a large
number, and many a good specimen lies hidden in the private
collections of England. But if we should select a few as peculiarly
worthy of attention, we might point to the “Rustics in a Tavern”
of 1662 at the Hague, the “Village School” of the same year at
the Louvre, the “Tavern Court-yard” of 1670 at Cassel, the
“Sportsmen’s Rest” of 1671 at Amsterdam and the “Fiddler and
his Audience” of 1673 at the Hague. At Amsterdam we have the
likeness of a painter, sitting with his back to the spectator, at his
easel. The colour-grinder is at work in a corner, a pupil prepares a
palette and a black dog sleeps on the ground. A replica of this
picture, with the date of 1666, is in the Dresden gallery. Both
specimens are supposed to represent Ostade himself. But unfortunately
we see the artist’s back and not his face. In his etching
(Bartsch, 32) the painter shows himself in profile, at work on a
canvas. Two of his latest dated works, the “Village Street” and
“Skittle Players,” which were noteworthy items in the Ashburton
and Ellesmere collections, were executed in 1676 without any sign
of declining powers. The prices which Ostade received are not
known, but pictures which were worth £40 in 1750 were worth
£1000 a century later, and Earl Dudley gave £4120 for a cottage
interior in 1876. The signatures of Ostade vary at different periods.
But the first two letters are generally interlaced. Up to 1635
Ostade writes himself Ostaden, e.g. in the “Bagpiper” of 1635 in
the Liechtenstein collection at Vienna. Later on he uses the long s
(ſ), and occasionally he signs in capital letters. His pupils are his
own brother Isaac, Cornelis Bega, Cornelis Dusart and Richard
Brakenburg.
2. Isaac Ostade (1621–1649) was born in Haarlem, and began his studies under Adrian, with whom he remained till 1641, when he started on his own account. 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. But he soon reverted to a style more suited to his brush. He produced pictures in 1641–1642 on the lines of his brother—amongst these, the “Five Senses,” which Adrian afterwards represented by a “Man reading a Paper,” a “Peasant tasting Beer,” a “Rustic smearing his Sores with Ointment” and a “Countryman sniffing at a Snuff-box.” A specimen of Isaac’s work at this period may be seen in the “Laughing Boor with a Pot of Beer,” in the museum of Amsterdam; the cottage interior, with two peasants and three children near a fire, in the Berlin museum; a “Concert,” with people listening to singers accompanied by a piper and flute player, and a “Boor stealing a Kiss from a Woman,” in the Lacaze collection at the Louvre. The interior at Berlin is lighted from a casement in the same Rembrandtesque style as Adrian’s interior of 1643 at the Louvre. The low price he received for his pictures of this character—in which he could only hope to remain a satellite of Adrian—induced him gradually to abandon the cottage subjects of his brother for landscapes in the fashion of Esaias Van de Velde and Salomon Ruisdael. Once only, in 1645, he seems to have fallen into the old groove, when he produced the “Slaughtered Pig,” with the boy puffing out a bladder, in the museum of Lille. But this was an exception. Isaac’s progress in his new path was greatly facilitated by his previous experience as a figure painter; and, although he now selected his subjects either from village high streets or frozen canals, he gave fresh life to the scenes he depicted by groups of people full of movement and animation, which he relieved in their coarse humours and sordid appearance by a refined and searching study of picturesque contrasts. He did not live long enough to bring his art to the highest perfection. He died on the 16th October 1649 having painted about 400 pictures (see H. de Groot, 1910).
The first manifestation of Isaac’s surrender of Adrian’s style is apparent in 1644 when the skating and sledging scenes were executed which we see 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 1644 and 1645. The roadside inns, with halts of travellers, form a compact 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. The same principle applied to details such as glazed bricks or rents in the mud lining of cottages gives an unreal and conventional stamp to those particular parts. But these blemishes are forgotten when one looks at the broad contrasts of light and shade and the masterly figures of horses and riders, and travellers and rustics, or quarrelling children and dogs, poultry and cattle, amongst which a favourite place is always given to the white horse, which seems as invariable an accompaniment as the grey in the skirmishes and fairs of Wouverman. But it is in winter scenes that Isaac displays the best qualities. The absence of foliage, the crisp atmosphere, the calm air of cold January days, unsullied by smoke or vapour, 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 we should notice those of Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery, the Wallace and Holford 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.
For paintings and etchings see Les Frères Ostade, by Marguerite van de Wiele (Paris, 1893). For his etchings see L’Œuvre d’Ostade, ou description des eaux-fortes de ce maître, &c., by Auguste d’Orange (1860); and Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l’œuvre gravé d’Adrian van Ostade, by L. E. Faucheux (Paris, 1862). (J. A. C; P. G. K.)
OSTASHKOV, a town of Russia, in the government of Tver, on Lake Seliger, 108 m. W.N.W. of the city of Tver; pop. 10,457. The climate is damp and unhealthy. The town has tanneries, and is a centre for the making of boots and shoes, for agricultural implements, fishing-nets and the building of boats. The advantageous site, the proximity of the Smolenskiy Zhitnyi monastery, a pilgrim resort on an island of the lake and the early development of certain petty trades combined to bring prosperity to Ostashkov. Its cathedral (1672–1685) contains valuable offerings, as also do two other churches of the same century.
OSTEND (Flemish and French Ostende), a town of Belgium in the province of West Flanders. Pop. (1904) 41,181. It is the most fashionable seaside resort and the second port of the kingdom. Situated on the North Sea it forms almost the central point on the 42 m. of sea-coast that belong to Belgium. In the middle ages it was strongly fortified and underwent several sieges; the most notable was that of 1601–1604, when it only surrendered by order of the states to Spinola. In 1865 the last vestiges of its ramparts were removed, and since that date, but more especially since 1898, a new town has been created. The digue or parade, constructed of solid granite, extends for over 2 m. along the shore in a southerly direction from the long jetty which protects the entrance to the port. A fine casino and the royal chalet are prominent objects along the sea front, and the sea-bathing is unsurpassed. In the rear of the town is a fine park to which a race-course has been added. Extensive works were begun in 1900 for the purpose of carrying the harbour back 2 m., and a series of large docks were excavated and extensive quays constructed. The docks accommodate ships of large tonnage. Apart from these docks Ostend has a very considerable passenger and provision traffic with England, and is the headquarters of the Belgian fishing fleet, estimated to employ 400 boats and 1600 men and boys. Ostend is in direct railway communication with Brussels, Cologne and Berlin. It is also the starting point of several light railways along the coast and to the southern towns of Flanders.
OSTEND COMPANY. The success of the Dutch, English and French East India Companies led the merchants and shipowners of Ostend to desire to establish direct commercial relations with the Indies. A private company was accordingly formed in 1717 and some ships sent to the East. The emperor Charles VI. encouraged his subjects to raise subscriptions for the new enterprise, but did not grant a charter or letters patent. Some success attended these early efforts, but the jealousy of the neighbouring nations was shown by the seizure of an Ostend
