An infant in a chair, with a subsidiary study of her head

This sensitive study of a child in her chair, gripping a spoon, is a preparatory drawing for van Ostade's picture of A peasant family in a cottage after a meal of 1661 (Sotheby’s, New York, 30 January 2014, lot 35, where the drawing was reproduced as Fig. 1). Executed in black and white chalk on blue paper, it is a typical example of Ostade’s draughtsmanship at this period and demonstrates his ability to capture character and expression in just a few strokes. Unlike the drawings and paintings made earlier in his career, when roistering peasants and tavern scenes held a central place in his work, A peasant family exemplifies the artist’s move towards gentler representations of humble life, in which the figures are shown with greater dignity and sympathy. There is one other known preparatory drawing for the same painting, A seated peasant with tongs in the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Schnackenburg, op. cit., no. 166; A. Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450-1850, Cologne, 2011, II, no. 768).