Seated Man with a Pipe 1670 - 1685

Adriaen van Ostade rendered this drawing of a seated man with pen, ink, and watercolor. Ostade wasn't afraid to depict the working class. Here, we see his choice of medium, with the immediacy of line and wash, almost suggesting a quick sketch from life. The sitter's posture – slouched and weary – speaks volumes about the nature of labor. Even the color palette, muted and earthy, reflects the realities of everyday existence for working people in 17th-century Holland. Look at the lines themselves. They are not precise, but are loose and expressive, reflecting the character of the sitter, and suggesting the passage of time in the man's pose and garments. In essence, this drawing challenges the traditional hierarchy of art, where grand historical paintings often overshadowed the intimate portrayal of the human condition. It makes you think about the conditions of the people who worked in the making of things during the Dutch Golden Age, and whose stories were not often told.