The Blessing
1610–85
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 6 1/4 × 5 1/4 in. (15.8 × 13.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1917
Accession Number
17.72.34
Tags
Art Historical Context
Adriaen van Ostade *The Blessing* (c. 1610–85) is a delightful etching capturing a tender moment of daily life in 17th-century Holland. Measuring just 6 1/4 × 5 1/4 inches, this intimate print depicts figures including children, men, and womenlikely a family gathered in a humble interior, evoking the warmth of a blessing or prayer. Acquired through the Rogers Fund in 1917 and housed in the Metropolitan Museum of's Drawings and Prints department it exemplifies the Dutch Golden Age's fascination with ordinary folk. Van Ostade, a master of the Baroque genre scene from Haarlem, specialized in liv...
About the Artist
Adriaen van Ostade · 1610–1685
Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade (1610-1685) was a Dutch Baroque painter and printmaker who specialized in genre scenes of peasant life. Born and raised in Haarlem, he became one of the most prolific and celebrated artists of the Dutch Golden Age, producing over 800 paintings, 50 etchings, and numerous drawings. Van Ostade's significance in art history lies in his masterful depiction of peasant life, a ...