# Alchemist [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [OSTADE, Adriaen Jansz. van]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on oak, 34,2 x 45,2 cm ## Commentary Ostade was influenced by Adriaen Brouwer and Rembrandt. He painted mainly realistic genre pictures from the life of peasants. The subject of alchemists was frequently depicted in the 17th century usually with satiric treatment. The dilapidated state of the interior is presumably the consequence of the alchemist's foolish business venture. Such insolvency was satirized vigorously in the Dutch Republic, dependent as the state was on the financial responsibility and high productivity of a broad middle class. ## Related artworks - [A Fight]() - [A Man With Pince-Nez \(The Sense of Sight\)]() - [Barber Extracting of Tooth]() - [Brawl]() - [Carousing Peasants in a Tavern]() - [Comedian Reading in a Tavern]() - [Cutting the Feather]() - [Feasting Peasants in a Tavern]() - [Flute Player]() - [Inn Scene]() - [Interior of a Farmhouse with Skaters]() - [Interior of a Tavern with Violin Player]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()