(Haarlem 1621-1649)
Travellers resting in a rocky landscape with ruins, pen and brown ink, over black chalk, brown wash, on laid paper, 18,8 cm (diameter), old mounting on support, inscribed "Rembrandt f.", and "Dalla Collez. e Sir Tom: Lawrence." in pen and brown ink by another hand on the mount, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830), London, Lugt 2445

We are grateful to Bernhard Schnackenburg for the confirmation of the attribution on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph and for the scientific support.

The present drawing may be an early work by Isack van Ostade, which was executed c. 1640. The detailed execution with mainly tiny strokes and the lively facial expressions of the figures and especially of the children speak for the highly gifted brother and pupil of Adriaen van Ostade. The drawing is comparable with the group Cat. No. 405-408 and 420-413 listed in the monograph of drawings of the Ostade brothers (1981). The landscape with rocks and ruins may have been inspired by Roelant Savery.

Compare: Bernhard Schnackenburg, Adriaen van Ostade. Isack van Ostade - Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Gesamtdarstellung mit Werkkatalogen, Hamburg 1981, Cat. 405-408, p. 157, Cat. 410-413, p. 158-159, Ill. Vol. 2, p. 166-170.