The Painter’s Studio

This painter is hardly rich: his workshop is located in an old, dark building. His artistic ambitions are not high, for on the easel is a modest landscape. Nevertheless, he has two apprentices. Van Ostade is here poking gentle fun at his own specialization. He did not portray his own studio, but invented the workshop of an ordinary painter who could have painted all of his (Van Ostade’s) peasant scenes.