Peasants in an Interior, Known as ‘The Skaters’

Four peasants gather round a table in a sunlit interior, smoking and drinking, while a pair of skates lying on the floor gave the picture its old, anecdotal title. The scene is typical of the friendly, mild-mannered country folk that Adriaen van Ostade made his specialty, softer in temper than the rowdy figures of his teacher Adriaen Brouwer. Painted about 1656, the little panel shows the warmth and easy humour that made van Ostade the most beloved chronicler of Dutch peasant life in the mid-seventeenth century.