Man with a Tankard at a Window

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This man’s amused expression and casual pose—leaning jauntily against a window frame with a tankard in his hand—are typical of Adriaen van Ostade’s scenes of bemused figures. The artist was one of the great chroniclers of gaiety and folly in the latter half of the 17th century, having established the Dutch taste for smallscale scenes of figures drinking and smoking at windows. Picturesque details like the vines and leaded glass above the man’s head can be found in other small paintings by Van Ostade of women at windows, suggesting that he may have conceived of these cheerful works in pairs.

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